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Category: Money & Banking

Money and banking drive economic activity by facilitating transactions, savings, and investments. Banks manage financial resources, offer credit, and regulate money supply, ensuring stability and growth in Pakistan’s financial sector.

  • SBP fixes merchant discount rate up to 2.5% on digital payments

    SBP fixes merchant discount rate up to 2.5% on digital payments

    KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday announced that Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) for Point of Sale (POS) acquiring Pakistan shall be within the range of 1.5%-2.5% for both existing and new merchants.

    The following merchant categories shall be exempt from this requirement:

    Government and Utilities

    MCC 9211: Court Costs, Including Alimony and Child Support

    MCC 9222: Fines

    MCC 9223: Bail and Bond Payments

    MCC 9311: Tax Payments

    MCC 9399: Government Services (Not Elsewhere Classified)

    MCC 4900: Utilities -Electric, Gas, Water and Sanitary

    Education

    MCC 8211: Elementary and Secondary Schools

    MCC 8220; Colleges, Universities, Professional Schools and Junior Colleges

    MCC 8241: Correspondence Schools

    MCC 8244: Business and Secretarial Schools

    MCC 8249: Vocational and Trade Schools

    MCC 8299: Schools and Educational Services (Not Elsewhere Classified)

    Fuel

    MCC 5541: Service Stations

    MCC 5542: Automated Fuel Dispensers

    MCC5172: Petrolium and Petroleum Products

    MCC 5983: Fuel -Fuel Oil, Wood, Coal, Liquefied Petroleum

    The SBP said that the Interchange Reimbursement Fee (IRF) for debit and prepaid cards issued in Pakistan used on domestic POS terminals shall be capped at 0.5 percent.

    The central bank said that during the past few years, there has been considerable growth in the digital payment infrastructure of the country, especially in the number of debit cards being issued by the banks to their customers.

    Although, the Point of Sale (POS) infrastructure has also grown during the past few years, its growth has largely remained restricted to high value merchants in big cities.

    Some of the key challenges being faced by the POS acquiring industry in Pakistan include high Interchange Reimbursement Fee (IRF), lower than cost Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) to onboard high value merchants and less interest by banks in offering low cost domestic payment cards to their customers.

    The SBP said that the card issuers shall offer SBP approved Domestic Payment Scheme (DPS) Card as the default card at the time of issuance or renewal of debit cards.

    Accordingly card requesting customers shall be offered the following options in order of priority:

    Either an exclusive DPS card or a DPS card co-badged with an International Payment Scheme (IPS)

    An exclusive IPS card upon written request of the customer

    The central bank said that the instructions shall come into effect from April 01, 2020.

  • Rupee gains 10 paisas on improved dollar supply

    Rupee gains 10 paisas on improved dollar supply

    The Pakistani rupee gained 10 paisas against the US dollar in the interbank foreign exchange market on Thursday, closing at Rs154.47 compared to the previous day’s closing of Rs154.57, according to currency dealers.

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  • Rupee ends unchanged for third straight day

    Rupee ends unchanged for third straight day

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended remained unchanged for third consecutive day against the dollar on Wednesday owing to lackluster trading activities.

    The rupee ended Rs154.57 to the dollar, same previous day’s level, in interbank foreign exchange market.

    Currency dealers said that the rupee had maintained the levels as importers and corporate buyers were cautious. They said that due to coronavirus outbreak in China the international oil prices had fallen.

    Besides, the health alerts issued by the government authorities due to coronavirus also prevented fresh orders to import Chinese goods.

    The foreign currency market was initiated in the range of Rs154.55 and Rs154.60. The market recorded day high of Rs154.59 and low of Rs154.55 and closed at Rs154.57.

    The exchange rate in open market was also remained unchanged. The buying and selling of the dollar was traded at Rs154.50/Rs154.80, the same previous day’s level, in cash ready market.

  • Meezan Bank signs agreement for e-ticket payments

    Meezan Bank signs agreement for e-ticket payments

    KARACHI: Meezan Bank, Pakistan’s leading Islamic bank has recently entered into a partnership with Bookme.pk – Pakistan’s first and largest online ticketing platform that helps customers buy bus, airline and event tickets online using the Bank’s state-of-the-art Internet & Mobile Banking channels.

    The partnership will enable the Bank’s customers to simply log on to their Meezan Bank Internet and Mobile Banking Application portals to conduct secure online transactions and instantly buy tickets by directly checking out with their existing Meezan Bank accounts.

    In addition, the customers will also get to avail best value fares and discounts from Bookme.pk’s large portfolio of digital tickets.

    Commenting on this partnership, Meezan Bank’s Head of Alternate Distribution Channels, Shariq Mubeen said: “Meezan Bank is committed to facilitating advanced and innovative methods of payments that can offer greater convenience to its customers. This initiative with Bookme.pk will provide them with an instant and convenient way to purchase great value tickets through our seamless ADC Channels.”

    “We strive to curate a seamless ticket booking experience for our customers as a leading disrupter in the e-ticketing space in Pakistan. We are very proud to announce the onboarding of Meezan Bank, the first and largest Islamic Bank in Pakistan, as our digital ticketing partner for the enablement of e-ticketing services across Pakistan. We look forward to a mutually beneficial strategic partnership with Meezan Bank and further disrupting the e-ticketing industry across Pakistan,” said Faizan Aslam – CEO, Bookme.pk.

  • Rupee ends unchanged

    Rupee ends unchanged

    KARACHI: The Pak Rupee ended unchanged against dollar on Tuesday owing to lackluster demand for import payments, dealers said.

    The rupee ended Rs154.57 to the dollar, the same previous day’s level, in interbank foreign exchange market.

    The dealers said that importers were cautious in buying dollar due to decline in international oil prices and outbreak of coronavirus in China.

    The foreign currency market was initiated in the range of Rs154.58 and Rs154.60. The market recorded day high of Rs154.59 and low of Rs154.54 and closed at Rs154.57.

    The exchange rate in open market witnessed gain in rupee value. The buying and selling of dollar was recorded at Rs154.50/Rs154.80 from last day’s closing of Rs154.60/Rs154.90 in cash ready market.

  • SBP enhances borrowing limit under LTFF to Rs5 billion

    SBP enhances borrowing limit under LTFF to Rs5 billion

    KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has enhanced the maximum borrowing limit under Long Term Financing Facility (LTFF) to Rs5 billion from Rs2.5 billion.

    In a statement on Tuesday, the central bank said that it had extended the scope of LTFF to cover all permissible export oriented sectors.

    This step is aimed at setting up of diverse export oriented projects in Pakistan and to boost exports in multiple sectors.

    Further, to accommodate enhanced financing requirements of exporters for setting up long term export oriented projects, maximum limit of Rs. 2.5 billion has been enhanced to Rs. 5 billion per project under LTFF.

    In line with the above measure, SBP has also provided additional concessional financing of Rs.200 billion to banks including Rs. 100 billion under Long Term Financing Facility (LTFF) and Rs. 100 billion under Export Refinance Scheme (EFS), to be utilized by June 30, 2020.

    Going forward, to further promote SME exporters, SBP in consultation with the relevant stakeholders, is in the process of devising an elaborate mechanism for the allocation of LTFF and EFS to SME exporters.

    These changes are likely to be announced in March 2020.

  • SBP allows 100% advance payment for import

    SBP allows 100% advance payment for import

    KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has allowed 100 percent advance payment for import of various goods against letter credit.

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  • SBP keeps policy rate unchanged at 13.25%

    SBP keeps policy rate unchanged at 13.25%

    KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) announced on Tuesday that it has decided to maintain the policy rate at 13.25%. SBP Governor Dr. Raza Baqir conveyed this decision, which was made during the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting. The SBP emphasized that the outlook for inflation remains steady, prompting the committee to retain the current monetary policy stance.

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  • Murtaza Syed appointed as SBP deputy governor

    Murtaza Syed appointed as SBP deputy governor

    KARACHI: The federal government has officially appointed Dr. Murtaza Syed as Deputy Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), in accordance with Section 10(4) of the SBP Act of 1956 (as amended), the central bank announced on Tuesday. Dr. Syed assumed his responsibilities at the SBP on January 27, 2020, bringing with him a wealth of experience in macroeconomic policy and research.

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