Banks mandated to provide digital payment to corporate clients

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday made it mandatory for the banks and financial institutions to provide digital payment facility to their corporate clients, a statement said.
The central bank said towards digitalisation of payments and receipts in the corporate sector, the State Bank has now made it mandatory for its regulated entities, including banks, microfinance banks, payment system operators and payment system providers to provide digital means of payments to their corporate clients and to enable businesses for sending and receiving their payments.
The central bank, in its recent circular, has asked its regulated entities to facilitate their institutional clients, including corporations, companies, and partnerships for making large value payments through digital channels.
The 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 the Point of Sale (POS) terminals, QR codes, mobile devices, ATMs, kiosks or any other digital payments enabled device.
To monitor the progress of implementation of these instructions, the State Bank of Pakistan has advised the banks to submit a roadmap for implementing these measures within 30 days.

The banks are also required to submit quarterly progress reports to the SBP on the number of businesses facilitated for digitalisation of their payments and receipts.
The SBP expects that these measures would increase documentation of value chains and help businesses manage their large value transactions more effectively.
The initiative will also facilitate implementation of the Federal Board of Revenue’s recently introduced measures on integration of businesses with the FBR system and conducting of corporate payments through digital means.
The regulated entities are also required to make efforts to onboard non-corporate players, including sole proprietors, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Micros, Small and medium Enterprises (MSMEs) for the provision of digital payments.