Roshan Digital Accounts

As part of its open communication policy, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has recently started a podcast series to communicate with the stakeholders about policies of SBP, various aspects and challenges of Pakistan’s economy and most importantly to counter the fake news and negative sentiments created by certain elements against Pakistan’s economy.

The latest episode of the SBP Podcast was about the Roshan Digital Account (RDA), a land mark initiative of SBP. Mr. Ali Raza Syed, who is among the leading members of the team working on the RDA, appeared as a guest in SBP’s Podcast to share the facts about current position and future prospects of RDA.

RDA is the first initiative in the country’s history that digitally connected the non-resident Pakistanis (NRPs) to Pakistan’s financial system in a way that they feel a part of their homeland. Perhaps, in some respects they are more privileged than the resident Pakistanis. And why not, because their services to the nation and national economy are above and beyond any privilege or price. The biggest privilege RDA provides to NRPs is the ease of remitting funds to and from Pakistan.

Responding to a question regarding high outflows in RDA, Mr. Ali Raza Syed clarified that it is not a problem but a distinctive feature of the RDA that promises Overseas Pakistanis to repatriate their funds, whenever and wherever they want. And let us not forget that it is an important building block of the RDA that has given confidence to our valued NRPs to bring their funds to their homeland for investment and consumption of their loved ones, he continued.

The point which we need to look at to gauge the confidence in RDA is the inflows, he shared a fact that the total outflows to date are hardly 17% of the total inflows received. Whereas, the last month was among the best performing months in terms of inflow of funds with highest ever inflow in a day.

Mr. Syed explained that if we keep in mind the current inflationary pressures on global economy, this is quite natural that people consume their savings in such times and that is one of the important reasons for repatriation which coincided with the maturity time of a significant amount of Naya Pakistan Certificates.

If we look at the pace of account opening, inflow of funds and investments through RDA, it is pretty much clear that our Overseas Pakistanis have full confidence in RDA and SBP is here to guard it. Recently the State Bank of Pakistan conducted a survey which received around ten thousand responses from 116 countries, Mr. Syed argued that according to the findings of this survey, 71% of the respondents are satisfied with the overall RDA and 77% most likely to recommend it to others.

In response to the findings of the survey, there has been a soft launch of a dedicated complaint resolution portal by the name of ‘Sunwai’ that is also available as mobile app for seamless complaint lodging and real time monitoring of the status of complaints of RDA holders along with timely resolution. SBP is also in consultation with banks and other stakeholders to launch some new products which will be, he revealed, an exciting addition to RDA for e.g. Roshan Business Account, Roshan Insurance Product and Roshan Pension Plan.

He reiterated that SBP will continue to bring innovative products and services in RDA as per the needs and requirements of our NRPs.

Please share your questions or feedback related to the Roshan Digital Accounts initiative with SBP at [email protected]

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