ISLAMABAD: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has now made it mandatory for its regulated entities (REs) including banks, microfinance banks, payment system operators, and payment system providers to provide digital means of payments to their corporate clients to enable businesses for sending and receiving their payments.
State Bank of Pakistan, in its recent circular, taking a step towards digitization of payments and receipts in the corporate sector, has asked its regulated entities to facilitate their institutional clients including corporations, companies, and partnerships for making large value payments through the digital channels.
Regulated entities are now required to extend online portals/platforms for digital payments and receipts of corporates including online interbank fund transfer services, online bill/invoice sharing, and payment services like over the counter (OTC) digital payments services/facilities, card payments using Point of Sale (POS) terminals, QR codes, mobile devices, ATMs, Kiosk or any other digital payments enabled device.
To monitor the progress of implementation of these instructions, SBP has advised banks to submit a roadmap of implementing these measures within 30 days.
Banks are also required to submit quarterly progress reports to SBP on the number of businesses facilitated for digitization of their payments and receipts.
SBP expects that these measures will increase documentation of value chains and help businesses manage their large value transactions more effectively.
The initiative will also facilitate the implementation of the Federal Board of Revenue’s recently introduced measures on the integration of businesses with the FBR system and conducting of corporate payments through digital means.
Regulated entities are also required to make all efforts to onboard non-corporate players including Sole Proprietors, SMEs, and MSMEs for the provision of digital payments.
