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Internet Banking Is Ready To Go Beyond The Early Stage In Pakistan

Internet Banking Is Ready To Go Beyond The Early Stage In Pakistan

The banking sector of Pakistan is evolving and the evolution of the banking sector is visible in the form of internet banking. Internet banking ensures interactivity and convenience and it works at a low cost and is extremely time-saving for the users. Internet banking has successfully ensured customer satisfaction and this has resulted in the retention of the customers in the bank. Internet banking has experienced wide acceptance in Pakistan and this has only worked towards strengthening the financial institutions.

Internet Banking Has Moved Beyond Its Early Stage 

Internet banking was in its early stage in the year 2018. At that time, only 24 banks in Pakistan supported internet banking. With limited infrastructure, even in 2018, the banking sector worked towards improving internet banking. Internet banking even in its early stage has proved to be beneficial to the end-users. Things that were made possible through internet banking in Pakistan in 2018 included balance inquiry, online payment, online fund transfer, online shopping, ticket book and mobile recharge.

Internet banking in Pakistan has ensured healthy competition among the different banks in the country. Internet banking even in 2018 helped the physical bank in saving the cost and increasing the exposure. From 2018 to 2021, internet banking has upgraded itself with the advancement in technology and it has successfully moved beyond its early stage.

Internet Banking Experiences A Growth 

Internet banking in Pakistan saw a growth of 31.1% in the fiscal year 2020-21. In Pakistan, there has been a wide acceptance of digital payment. There has been tremendous growth in digital financial transactions in Pakistan. Internet banking has experienced a massive upsurge in the country due to improved internet connectivity on mobile phones. To avoid interruption while making a financial transaction through internet banking, it is important to have a good internet speed. You can check your current internet speed on

Speed Test and PTCL. A good internet connection ensures seamless payment which is important to prevent the struggles of failed transactions. Even in internet banking, mobile banking has seen an increase of 29% in the number of users and the increase in volume is approximately 133.6%.

A similar upward trend was also visible in the digital payment adoption of retail transactions. A growth of 47% was witnessed in the number of cards that were accepting points of sales. The trend was also followed by transactions in the eCommerce sector too. In this sector, the consumers carried out a total of 21.9 million online transactions that were worth 60.6 billion.

All the trends together signify one single point which is that internet banking is experiencing growth in Pakistan. It has moved beyond its early stage and is actively seeing an upward trend. State Bank of Pakistan played a significant role in increasing the popularity of internet banking. Also, payments made through debit cards, social welfare cards, and credit cards saw an increase in Pakistan. In FY 2021, a transaction worth PKR 8.4 trillion was made in Pakistan.

Internet Banking In Numbers

In Pakistan, mobile banking saw an increase of 29% in terms of the number of users. The increase in volume and value of mobile banking was 133.6% and 178.7% respectively. On the other hand, internet banking saw an increase of 32% and the increase in volume and value were 65.1% and 91.7%, respectively. The number of cards currently accepting point of sales witnessed a growth of 47% and the number of transactions that took place through these POS machines was $88.8 million. On the other hand, the eCommerce transactions amounted to 21.9 million. There has been overall good growth in digital and internet banking in Pakistan.

The infrastructure of the core payment system of the country played a key role in building a resilient network in internet banking. State Bank of Pakistan is further expecting growth across all the different sectors in terms of digital payment. For the State Bank of Pakistan, the modernization of the payment system and infrastructure of Pakistan always played a key role. While commenting on the same, it said that it will keep on working towards providing a comfortable regulatory environment for internet banking. There has been a huge improvement in internet banking in Pakistan and further growth is expected in the future too.

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