Staff Reporter
Islamabad
Pakistan Post Office with its wide footprint across the country could potentially be converted to a full-fledged Postal Bank through technology, capacity building of the staff members, and offers of various new financial services.
The concept of a Postal Bank is not new as it has been very successful in various countries including Japan and China, which provide various financial services to a significant segment of the population and have become a reliable financial institution as listed entities in stock exchanges.
Post Office led financial inclusion may lead to economic empowerment and development – especially in the rural and other underserved areas. Certain factors tend to give the post office an edge over many other financial institutions at the institutional level, both in general across the globe and also in Pakistan’s case, according to a study by State Bank of Pakistan.
Pakistan Post is a government-owned entity run under the Ministry of Communications that primarily provides postal services to 20 million consumers. In addition to postal services, the organization also provides life insurance instruments, collects taxes and utility bills, money, and remittance transfer facility without taking deposits.
It also performs agency function on behalf of the Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) carries out transaction services for buying and selling instruments on behalf of CDNS. Data on gross investment in the National Savings Scheme shows that Pakistan Post contributes 25 percent to financial inflow under these schemes. This share has remained stable over the past decade.
Pakistan Post’s physical branch infrastructure consists of around 2,400 delivery post offices with 87 percent of these located outside the five most populated cities in the country.
The post office is well-positioned to facilitate certain financial services, such as international home remittances.
