ISLAMABAD – The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Friday launched the Asaan Mobile Account or AMA scheme to facilitate the customers.
While addressing the launching ceremony, SBP Governor Reza Baqir termed it a great initiative that will extend branchless banking facilities to people.
A notification issued on Monday stated that the initiative has been taken under the National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS) with the objective to bring further ease in remote account opening under branchless banking.
“The AMA scheme will allow users with feature and non-feature phones to open a bank account through Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) channels, without the need for an internet connection,” the central bank said.
The solution has been developed through collaboration of SBP, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), 13 Branchless Banking (BB) Providers, all Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs), and Virtual Remittance Gateway (VRG), it added.
“For AMA, branchless banking providers and cellular mobile operators are collaborating to deliver an interoperable platform, allowing all Pakistanis to open accounts with a bank,” it added.
The central bank said that the customers will be able to open and operate their accounts in the comfort of their homes, without having to visit the branches, with any of the participating branchless banking providers.
“Since there is no internet required to open accounts, AMA will play a crucial role in reaching out to the low-income segments that do not have access to the internet. Moreover, AMA will be a perfect conduit to onboard women customer segments as well,” SBP added.
