Prime Minister Inaugurates - (01 July, 2008)

Real Time Gross Settlement System at SBP

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani today inaugurated the Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) that would enable banks to settle their large value payments in real time using a computerized network.

The inauguration ceremony which was held at the State Bank of Pakistan, Karachi was attended, among others, by Sindh Governor, Dr Ishratul Ibad, Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Federal Finance Minister, Syed Naveed Qamar, Federal Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis, Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah, Special Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs, Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar and Special Advisor to Prime Minister, Ms. Shahnaz Wazir Ali.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Shamshad Akhtar, Governor State Bank of Pakistan, informed the Prime Minister about the functionalities being offered by the new system and its positive impact on the banking industry. She mentioned that the RTGS will facilitate the instant transfer of high value funds via electronic means and pointed out that the RTGS project is a complex undertaking and a lot of work has been done to make its implementation a reality. By launching the RTGS system, Pakistan became one of those countries who had such advanced payment systems, she added.

Dr Akhtar said that Centralized Multilateral Net Settlement in RTGS will enable banks to efficiently use their liquidity, which previously they had to maintain in different current accounts with the SBP BSC offices for retail clearing. She said the corporate customers of the banks will also be able to use RTGS for their time-critical payments and added that RTGS Implementation provides the capability of connecting with various other regional / international payment systems for foreign exchange, government bonds, and private equity settlements.

SBP officials demonstrated and explained the process of funds transfer via RTGS to the Prime Minister, who completed one such transaction to inaugurate the system. Initially 39 commercial banks and Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) would be the direct members of the system.

SBP Imparts RTGS Training to Banks - (18 Mar, 2008)

On 18th March, a one-day seminar was organized for all the banks to present the theoretical aspects of the RTGS system that would be implemented. The seminar was attended by about 170 participants from banks and SBP Departments. The presentation/lecture was delivered by Mr. Igor Kozintsev, Vice President of CMA Small Systems. Mr. Jameel Ahmad, Executive Director (Banking Policy and Regulations) inaugurated the session.

From 19th March 2008 to 8th April 2008, detailed functional training of three day duration was provided to the banks in groups of six. The training was delivered by CMA consultants with the help of their local partners and SBP’s RTGS team.

2007
	Implementation of country wide netting of Same Day Clearing	(27th August, 2007)
	Implementation of country wide netting of Normal Clearing	(15th August, 2007)
	Implementation of country wide netting of Intercity Clearing	(27th Oct, 2007)
2006
	5th Meeting of RTGS-Technical Committee	(5th December, 2006)
	4th Meeting of RTGS-Technical Committee	(18th November, 2006)
	Meeting of the Governor State Bank with Chairman, PTCL	(10th November, 2006)

Governor State Bank of Pakistan, Chief Information Officer and Project Manager, RTGS held a meeting with President, PTCL and his team on November 10, 2006 to discuss various telecommunication facilities being offered by PTCL for RTGS implementation.

RTGS - PTCL Walk in Session - (17-18 October, 2006)
A walk in session for banks/DFIs was arranged on 17-18 October, 2006 at LRC, SBP, Karachi wherein PTCL Team briefed the participant banks regarding PTCL connectivity and distributed registration forms for the said connectivity.

PRISM Presentation to CEOs and PRISM Coordinators (18th May, 2006)
A presentation ceremony was arranged for the chief Executive of Banks and RTGS Coordinator, at SBP Learning Resource Centre on 18th May, 2006. Mr. Saeed Siddiqui (Project Manager RTGS) made a comprehensive presentation about PRISM, followed by address by Governor Dr. Shamshad Akhtar.

Governor. Dr Shamshad Akhtar, and Mr. Saeed Siddiqui, Project Manager RTGS Project Management Office Speaking at a presentation ceremony arranged for the chief Executive of Banks and RTGS Coordinators at SBP, Karachi on 18th May, 2006

SWIFT-RTGS Training – (23rd Jan, 2006)
SWIFT conducted a training course on RTGS from 23rd to 24th January, 2006 which was attended by more than 60 participants from various institutions of the banking community. The course mainly focused on the messaging schemes (based on SWIFT format) used to carry out different transactions in a payment system

Participant Information Briefing Session - (15 Dec, 2005)
A participant information briefing session was held at the Learning Resource Center (LRC) to update the banks and provide them with the road map for the implementation

RTGS Telecom Infrastructure meeting with PTCL President and Top
Executives – (29 Sep, 2005)
The meeting was held between the RTGS Project team and the PTCL President, Mr. Junaid I. Khan and top executives on Thursday, September 29, 2005 at 5th floor, PTCL Headquarters, Islamabad to dynamically steer up the telecom infrastructure requirements for the successful implementation of RTGS project. In the meeting, several business and technical issues were thoroughly discussed and the PTCL President assured that they will provide the best possible services and support along with the dedicated project team and SLA. The meeting turned out very healthy and progressive.

Proposal of Clearing Solution by NIFT Shared with Banks – (19 Sep, 2005)
A follow up presentation on clearing solution proposed by NIFT was held at State Bank of Pakistan where all commercial banks were called.

Preliminary Meeting to Share Clearing Solutions by NIFT – (12 Sep, 2005)
A presentation was held by NIFT at State Bank of Pakistan to present the proposal clearing solution for the RTGS for NBP, MCB, HBL, UBL and ABL

PTCL Telecommunication Arrangements - (26 Aug, 2005)
A meeting was held with higher officials of PTCL & CMA to review the connectivity arrangements for the Banks.

Clearing Results – (21 Jul 2005)
RTGS team conducted a series of meeting with NIFT along with the SBP DAD key personnel to incorporate clearing results into the RTGS system in a real time scenario. The clearing results will be cater as multilateral basis. This plan is expected to be finalized soon and then SBP will call banks to understand the upcoming clearing results.

Banks Connectivity to the RTGS System – (Jul 2005)
SBP RTGS team is conducting series of meeting with all different vendors e.g. PTCL, NTC for the best possible connectivity solutions between schedule banks and State Bank of Pakistan. The decision is expected to be finalized and the plan will be shared with all schedule banks for timely connectivity with the RTGS System

RTGS Presentation to Banks Community at the SWIFT User Group Forum –
(23 May, 2005)
RTGS Presentation was given to Banks Community at HBL on the occasion of SWIFT User Group Meeting.

Meeting with ATM switches – (17 May, 2005)
RTGS team has been meeting with the 1-Link and M-Net concerning the RTGS implementation.

RTGS System coined as "PRISM" – (17 May, 2005)
SBP has assigned PRISM (Pakistani Realtime Interbank Settlement Mechanism) as the name of RTGS system in Pakistan.

Preliminary Training on RTGS Demo System in Full Swing – (31 Mar, 2005)
State Bank of Pakistan is arranging presentations of the RTGS demo system for the participant banks, as preliminary training. As of now, State Bank of Pakistan has presented this demo to 23 participant banks so far.

SWIFT Meet – (10 Mar, 2005)
SBP team met with SWIFT officials and discussed the availability of the network for RTGS implementation based on prior discussions. Mr. Jamil Iqbal SWIFT chairperson for Pakistan from Habib Bank Limited was also present during the occasion from March 1-3, 2005.

State Bank of Pakistan installs CMA’s demo RTGS system for training purposes – (28 Feb, 2005)
Going further with the ongoing implementation of RTGS system in the country, State Bank of Pakistan has installed a demo system of RTS/X from CMA Small Systems AB of Sweden for internal training of State Bank of Pakistan professionals. The demo version is out of the box solution and not a customized version of the RTGS which is under implementation by CMA. After customization a test and training system will also be installed.

Comprehensive multi stage training for the commercial banks is also scheduled in the near future to be carried out by CMA and SBP.

CMA Team conducts training of the SBP Staff - (28 Feb, 2005)
CMA experts imparted initial training and overview to SBP staff on various aspects of the RTGS system from the 21st to 24th of February.

State Bank of Pakistan solicits Coordinators from all the Banks – (28 Feb, 2005)
State Bank of Pakistan over the past year have solicited a three member team of coordinators from all the Banks. The coordinators were called for a meeting at the SBP in December for an initial warm up briefings with the coordinators. Mr. Taha Rafi the local project manager from CMA was also present in the meetings. Mr. Mairaj Hussainy is the coordinator for the Banks from the State Bank. Mr. Hussainy is conduting detailed reviews of the Banks. SBP is also holding one to one meetings with the coordinators of the banks.