Page 14 - Payment System Review -Q2 FY24

During the quarter, a total of 10.9 million e-commerce Volume of e-Commerce Transactions
transactions were processed amounting to PKR 50.5

billion. Majority of these transactions (84%) had a ticket
size of less than PKR 5,000 per transaction. Only, 3% of

the transactions amounted greater than PKR 30,000.

This quarter marked the entrance of The Bank of Punjab
and Faysal Bank Ltd. into the POS acquiring business,

contributing to the broader expansion of the POS
network nationwide. Currently, 11 banks/MFBs offer POS services, among them two are facilitating

closed-loop POS machines. These closed-loop machines efficiently provide cash withdrawal services
at bank branches, environment friendly and easing cashier workloads. The share of these transactions

is almost negligible. The remaining nine acquiring banks have strategically deployed their POS
machines in diverse locations, including stores, outlets, supermarkets, fuel stations, and hospitals

across the country. Although number of POS machine is increasing every quarter, but the growth is

somewhat stagnant due to the high merchant rate imposed on merchants by acquirers. More than 65
million POS purchases were conducted during the quarter amounting to PKR 363.2 billion.

Mentioned earlier, 34% of the retail transactions were cash withdrawals during the quarter of which
82% were carried out at ATMs while the remaining 18% through bank branches. Although ATMs in

Pakistan have the facility of bill payments and funds transfer in addition to cash withdrawals, however,

98% of the transactions through ATMs are usually cash withdrawals with an average ticket size of PKR
14,700/ transaction.

One notable development was in customers’

preference for bill payment through different
channels. Bill payments through digital channels

has been steadily gaining momentum in recent
quarters, with one exception in Q1-FY24. In Q2-

FY23, 31% of bill payments were made through
OTC, which has now declined to 27% as of Q2

FY24. Notably, high-value bills tend to be paid
through OTC, with an average transaction size of

PKR 39,745, while digital channels handle
household bills with an average transaction size of PKR 14,513.

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