State Bank Asaan Mobile Account: Monday, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) launched the Asaan Mobile Account (AMA). The goal is to make formal financial services more accessible and usable in Pakistan by making them more digital.
At a branchless banking agent now, the account owner can deposit cash into it. Then, they can use that money to make transactions on their mobile phone. AMA lets you open a branchless banking account by dialing a simple code on your cell phone: *2262#.
There are currently 13 branchless banking service providers that offer AMA. Customers will be able to choose from any of these service providers.
SBP governor Dr. Reza Baqir: “AMA is expected to lead to a big rise in bank account openings, and people who don’t have access to the internet or live near branchless banking outlets won’t be able to stay away from financial services.”
The goal of AMA is to meet the purpose of the National Financial Inclusion Strategy, which is to make digital financial inclusion more common in the country. However, there are only 3G/4G subscribers in Pakistan, and only 106 million people use 3G and 4G phones. This means that only 48% of Pakistanis have access to the internet through their phones.
There are about 81 million people who don’t have access to the internet and could use AMA if they had the right value proposition, said the governor. This gives us a lot of potential customers.
To help people who don’t have a digital phone and don’t have internet access, AMA has a simple process to get financial services, like dialing a code. Furthermore, AMA will be an excellent place for customers of Pakistani to sign up because they have more trouble getting legal and financial services because of mobility, cultural, and documentation issues. With its ease of use, AMA will help get the next 50 million Pakistanis into banking.
AMA has been launched with the help of many different people, including the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, the National Database and Registration Authority, branchless banking providers, mobile cellular operators (CMOS), and virtual remittance gateways, which help people send money (VRG).