E-banking alive and well; grows 32% this year
Posted on September 20th, 2008 in Business Tech |
While the US financial markets face their own version of Hurricane Ike and our local financial market slows down, one local sector that has actually grown strong over the last year is E-banking. SBP (The Central Bank of Pakistan) reports that transactions done through internet,phone, and POS (thats when you swipe a credit or debit card say at the store) is strong, healthy and growing.
Well, Ofcourse it is! who wants to carry cash nowadays? and do you want to stand in line in the heat to pay your bills?! I dont, I’d rather just logon to www.whateverbank.com or dial in and pay my bills, save some time and petrol. Still, most banks dont get this, and alot STILL do not have online banking for consumers. One can only hope the banks wake up the thousands of retail customers they lose everday. This means something that should be standard for all banks by now, is a compeititve advantage for a few.
Forget usability though. Almost all the online banking services I user (Especially ABN AMRO/RBS) are UN-userfriendly, slow, and painful to get registered on , all with terrible customer service. That i hope will change. Its not difficult..Banks just need a team or just a guy who understands consumers, marketing, technology and business all in one. Hmmmm plenty of MBAs…but very few like that around! 
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7 Responses
Mohtashim, as a casual reader of SBP report, you may ‘feel’ that things have improved. I guess we started at such a low base that any improvement gives large increases. If you allow, I will post a deeper analysis of our payment reports of last 6 quarters?
1 piece of (derived) fact - there are over 55,000 POS machines installed. Sounds big? But think about it - most retailers have 3-4 of these, so total retail outlets accepting plastic is around 15000-20000. And total POS transactions are 4.4 Million over 90 days. That comes to less than 1 transaction per day per POS.
Also, someone explain why ATM cash-out transactions are included in E-Banking? These are equivalent of taking cash out at bank branch, which is considered paper transaction.
Farzal, thanks for the new perspective, do you think that by not having or marketing basic services such as online web based and phone based banking banks are losing customers?
nice subject to talk about muhtasshim. I would negate Fazal in this case.
Going to a branch and getting a cheque to be cashed is way too different. Cash Withdrawl is something you can do in the time of seconds. But yes, your figures about the POS terminals and places that accept Cards.
Yes your figures about the Pos terminals and places that accept cards is quite acceptable and its true!!!
And Dear Muhtasshim, online banking isn’t the only thing tht could save you from the heat of sun!!
Most of the Banks are now offering bills payment through ATM. It includes the bill payment of utility companies and telecos as well!!
Hail Pakistan!!
yes but how would you negate Farzal if his numbers are right? and to get to an ATM that is technically outside dont i have to drive , walk,etc? why cant i use my phone to pay bills in this day and age?
jingoist/Moti:
utility bills over ATM is a JOKE as its not been marketed at all - 6,310 bills were paid through ATM’s in last quarter. And we have over 3000 ATM’s. That comes to 2 bills per quarter per ATM.
Assuming only 25% ATM’s (11 banks out of 40+) allow bill payment, that is still 8 bills per ATM in 12 weeks! 1 Bill every 11 days. Crap!
jingoist
Cash withdrawal is cash - whether it takes 5 minutes at the branch, or 2 minutes at the ATM (remember, you will have to find a working ATM first).
Cash taken out is cash taken out, the transactions conducted post-withdrawal are all paper based, but the SBP report counts them as electronic payments, and includes these in definition of debit card payments!
actually, my mistake. ALL banks are required by SBP to allow bill payments through ATM. So it is 2 bills per quarter per ATM