Pakistan Ends 2012 With 1.4 Million m-banking Accounts

Mobile banking in Pakistan has witnessed a remarkable growth in recent times as the number of m-wallets accounts reached 1.4 million in 2012. It is an increase of almost 156% as compared to previous years.

According to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority the increase of active accounts from 54% to 66% is mainly due to increase in the small transaction m-banking accounts by UBL Omni which is facilitated by regulatory flexibility in account opening by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
Two major players Telenor with ‘Easypaisa’ launched in October 2009 and United Bank Limited (UBL) with ‘Omni’ initiated in April 2010 took the m-banking initiative and contributed in the growth of mobile banking in Pakistan.

The network of m-banking agents provides necessary contact point for m-banking account opening and transactions. More than 95% to transactions are carried out through agents whereas account to account transfers by individual-customers are still limited. Major concentration of m-banking agents is in the province of Punjab as of end March 2012, 62% of agents were in Punjab.