ISLAMABAD: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has allowed resident Pakistanis to open bank accounts through digital channels as they will no longer be required to visit a branch for opening an account.
In a statement, the central said that with the rapid growth in the adoption of electronic banking channels, especially amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the demand from the bank and customers for digital financial transactions have increased manifold.
Based on the success of the Roshan Digital Account framework, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has now devised a comprehensive ‘Customers Digital Onboarding Framework’, which will facilitate the banks and microfinance banks (MFBs) to conveniently and remotely open bank accounts of resident Pakistanis by using digital channels, including websites/portal, mobile applications and digital kiosks.
Under this framework, the account opening process has become swift and simplified, while ensuring compliance with the applicable regulatory requirements and international standards.
The central bank said the framework provides a convenient way for all segments of the society for opening bank accounts. It enables freelancers, self-employed or unemployed women, and recipients of remittances from abroad to open bank accounts digitally with the minimum documentation requirements.
“While typically accounts can be opened as either Savings or Current, the framework identifies four categories on the basis of functional limits such as deposit or withdrawal limits, fund transfer limits, etc, and the documents required for opening an account, the state bank said.
These categories included “Asaan Digital Account”; “Asaan Digital Remittance Account”; “Freelancer Digital Account”; and the “Digital Account”. The first category is the easiest to open requiring very basic information and the least number of documents albeit with some limits on the functionality.
The last category, “Digital Account”, is without any functional restriction but needs more information for account opening, it said, adding that a customer can start with the basic account and can upgrade over time to higher level of account type when needed.
The SBP has instructed the banks under this framework to ensure that the decision to open or decline these accounts do not take more than two working days from the day of completion of all the requirements. Moreover, the banks will also be required to provide a tracking number to the applicant for following up on the status updates.
The SBP has advised the banking industry to implement this framework by December 31, 2021. The central bank is confident that this initiative will help promote digitalisation of the banking services in the country apart from achieving the financial inclusion objectives.
The framework would also provide a tool to the industry and an impetus to the SBP’s initiative of banking on equality by bringing women into the financial system. It is expected that the move will result in increased convenience for the customers to fulfill their financial needs through swift and secure digital financial infrastructure in Pakistan.
