By Muhammad Luqman
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has launched the regulations of Electronic Money Institutions (EMIs) . The non-bank entitities also called EMIs will be licensed by the SBP to issue e-money for the purpose of digital payments.
Addressing the launching ceremony, the Finance Minister Asad Umar appreciated the launching of this new category of institutions which will complement the efforts of Pakistan’s government in creating an enabling environment to empower stakeholders in trade and commerce. This will help businesses in improving their productivity and contributing towards positioning the nation for global competition.
He said that the Government was determined to transform the country into a knowledge economy by making IT one of the top contributors in Pakistan’s economy and job creation besides producing world-class knowledge workers in sync with international market trends. “It is our government’s policy to encourage the use of e-commerce amongst public through awareness campaigns to promote a culture of e-commerce in the country, which supports electronic business transactions at national, regional and international levels,” Asad Umar said. He also highlighted the importance of cyber security which is a growing threat for the financial institutions.
The Finance Minister termed the launching of electronic money institutions as a game changer for promoting e-commerce and digital economy in the country.
Speaking at the launching ceremony, , Deputy Governor of central bank, Jameel Ahmad shared the SBP’s initiatives in transforming itself into a modern, digital and fully technology oriented central bank.
He briefly elaborated the strategy of SBP to embrace technology and innovation in digitizing banking & payments, and added that the launch of EMIs regulations was the first step of SBP’s strategy in that direction. “These landmark regulations are a testament of SBP’s commitment towards openness, adoption of technology and digitization of our financial system,” Jameel Ahmad added. He acknowledged the commitment and full support of the stakeholders who provided extensive and valuable feedback by thoroughly reviewing the draft.
