Digital payments for retail deals up

KARACHI: The share of digital payments in retail transactions of banking system increased to 80 per cent in the July-September quarter versus 74pc a year ago, according to the Quarterly Payment Systems Report for the first quarter of 2023-24 released by the State Bank of Pakistan on Saturday.

While share of over-the-counter (OTC) transactions was 20pc in retail transactions in the quarter under review, its share by value remained 87pc indicating customers’ preference of the OTC channel for higher-value transactions.

In terms of volume, large-value payments (LVPs) settled by the Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) were 1.4 million amounting to Rs199 trillion. Retail transactions processed by banks, microfinance banks and Electronic Money Institutions (EMIs) during the quarter was 702m with their value totalling almost Rs134tr.