State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in line with its Vision 2020 has taken a number of steps to increase the ATM usage and promote growth in number of ATMs and other electronic payment touch points in the country. ATM is one of the most widely used access/ payment touch point to cater the payments needs of the general public. The potential of ATM growth lies at offsite locations which still are an untapped area. Though several banks have installed ATMs at offsite locations but operation and maintenance of these ATMs is a big challenge for them. However, the White Label ATMs can catalyze the growth of offsite ATMs to bridge the gap at faster pace.
The White label ATMs are owned and operated by non-banking entities usually referred to as White Label ATM Operator (WLAO). The WLAO operates their ATMs in Off-Us mode and becomes a member of an ATM Switch (Payment Systems Operator- PSO) for routing and settlement of transactions while the service fee and place of installation is decided by WLAO itself.
In order to encourage the growth of off-site ATMs through White Label ATMs, “Draft White Label ATMs Guidelines” have been developed by SBP to provide a regulatory direction to prospective investors/service providers who intend to apply for In-principle approval under the Rules for Payment Systems Operators (PSOs) and Payment Service Providers (PSPs) issued vide PSD Circular No: 03 of 2014.
SBP requests general public and other stakeholders to furnish their valuable feedback on these guidelines for further improvement. The feedback/suggestion may be sent through email at:
[email protected]
or through surface mail by September 30, 2017 addressed to:
Head of Payment Systems Department
4th Floor SBP (main building)
I.I Chundigar Road Karachi-Pakistan