KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is engaged with the World Bank to beef up security checks on electronic payment transactions, as technological advancement is playing a pivotal role in financial inclusion of unbaked people in the country, an official of the central bank said on Thursday. “The State Bank of Pakistan in collaboration with the World Bank and other stakeholders has been striving to strengthen the electronic delivery channels through automation and digitisation. We are mindful of the critical role of technology in achieving the strategic objective of national financial inclusion,” said SBP Executive Director Muhammad Ashraf Khan at the 14th annual conference on e-banking. “The State Bank of Pakistan is currently working with the World Bank experts to develop the future payment system specific to Pakistan.” The central bank is in the process to issue guidelines on card security and prepaid cards, he said. The conference was organised by Total Communications in collaboration with 1Link and Pakistan Software House Association for IT & ITES (P@SHA). The central banker said the alternate delivery channels like e-banking and branchless banking have emerged as supporting pillars of SBP’s vision for financial inclusion. “Over the past five years, e-banking transactions have witnessed a phenomenal growth. Volume of e-banking transactions has doubled. The number of users of internet banking has reached to over 1.8 million,” Khan said. “A total of 100 million transactions worth Rs 526 billion were carried out during July-September 2015. More than 13 million m-wallets have been opened so far and these numbers are increasing at a faster pace.” 1Link Chief Executive Officer Faisal Ijaz said the central bank is about to approve the revised down tariff for financial transactions via PayPak, Pakistan’s first domestic payment scheme. “Besides financial transactions, PayPak would also include social services like Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) and health insurance for poor segment of the society,” he added. P@SHA President Jehan Ara said information technology has revolutionised the payment system in Pakistan. “P@SHA will certainly keep an eye over what is going on,” she said. Germany’s Global Sales and Marketing Vice President Wincox Nixdorf Achim Von Bremen asked the bankers to pay more attention towards customers’ financial needs and then invest in technology accordingly. “Putting technology at first is wrong, put customers at first,” he added. FINCA Microfinance Bank Chief Executive Officer Mudassar Aqil said his bank takes maximum 72 hours in processing and approving online loans, which would soon be cut to 24-hours maximum. Meezan Bank Deputy CEO Ariful Islam said his bank has launched the first Islamic branchless bank of the country recently in collaboration with Ufone. The one-day conference also held two panel discussions on ‘Disruptive Trends in Banking’ and ‘Securing Your ATM Network & Other Channels’.