LAHORE: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) announced today that it will be launching the Asaan Mobile Account (AMA) scheme on Monday under its National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) to bank the country’s sizably unbanked population.
In a statement, the central bank said that the initiative (AMA) has been developed under the NFIS with the objective to bring further ease in remote account opening under branchless banking. The AMA scheme will allow users with feature and non-feature phones to open a bank account through USSD channels, without the need for an internet connection.
#SBP to launch a new initiative, #AsaanMobileAccount on 13Dec21 allowing opening and operating of an account with a branchless banking service provider with the help of a mobile phone from anywhere in Pakistan without the need of internet and visiting a bank branch. Stay tuned.
— SBP (@StateBank_Pak) December 12, 2021
The solution has been developed through collaboration of SBP, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), 13 Branchless Banking (BB) Providers, all Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs) and Virtual Remittance Gateway (VRG), a financial technology company.
For AMA, the branchless banking providers and cellular mobile operators are collaborating under the Third Party Service Provider (TPSP) regulations to deliver an interoperable platform, allowing any Pakistani to open an account with a bank. VRG, which is the only company dually licensed by the PTA and SBP, created its own USSD platform under the license aimed at providing access to the financial services to millions of unbanked Pakistanis, enabling them to reach banking services from any type of phone, without 3G, 4G, WiFi or Internet.
During its extended pilot phase, VRG had more than 1 million people open their AMA accounts, and conducted over 11 million bank transactions worth over Rs6 billion through this channel. VRG now has approval for a commercial launch.
The launch of AMA means that the customers would be able to open and operate their accounts in the comfort of their homes, without having to visit the branches, with any of the participating branchless banking providers, the central said.
“Since there would be no internet required, AMA will play a crucial role in reaching out to the low-income segments that do not have such access,” the central bank said. “Moreover, AMA will be a perfect conduit to onboard women customer segments as well,” it added.
Great job done