KARACHI: Roshan Digital Account (RDA) has received more than $4.95 billion through 452, 821 accounts of overseas Pakistanis from 175 countries in less than two years and of that total over half of the inflows were recorded in the Islamic banking version, said Dr Murtaza Syed, Deputy Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Saturday.
Speaking at the webinar Roshan Digital Account: World Class Banking, The Islamic Way, he said more than half of Roshan Digital Accounts had been opened in Islamic banks, and half of the amount under investments out of a total $3 billion was made in Islamic Naya Pakistan Certificates.
“We recognised overseas Pakistanis’ choice for the Islamic version of Roshan Digital Accounts and hoped that more expatriate Pakistanis out of 9 million will get the advantage of RDA and its various features in the future,” Syed said.
Briefing the success of RDA, he said the inflows of RDA had been overwhelming, which were more than the amount received by the country under the programme of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and friendly states.
"RDA has been a global success story and widely recognized in the world as our brother country Turkey has worked with the team of the State Bank of Pakistan and launched its version of RDA," Syed added.
The SBP is working to introduce Roshan Business Account in near future in order to provide enhanced facilities to overseas Pakistanis for doing business and investments in Pakistan. The banking regulator is also working to launch products such as pension, insurance and Takaful under RDA.
Meezan Bank received $1.2 billion through RDA from overseas Pakistan out of $4.9 billion, which accounts for a significant share, according to Irfan Siddiqui, CEO and President Meezan Bank.
"Overseas Pakistanis have not found Islamic products in foreign countries for investments even if there are limited options, RDA offers them attractive profit rates on the principle of Sharia," Siddiqui said.
Islamic Naya Pakistan Certificate provided lucrative profit rates in terms of dollars whereas the profit rate through Rupee should be surged to 15 percent in near future.
"RDA’s inflows constitute 60 percent percent of the investment made by overseas Pakistanis in Naya Pakistan Certificates (conventional and Islamic both). The investment is guaranteed by the government of Pakistan but banks act as its agents," he further said.
He said it was expected the number of RDAs would be increased to double from 0.5 million to 1 million including its inflows, which should surge to nearly $10 billion in the next year.
Muhammad Aurangzeb, CEO and President HBL, said Islamic banking had witnessed tremendous growth in Pakistan during the last 15 years, as it had gone forward in a comprehensive way with innovative products and services to support financial inclusion in Pakistan,.
"HBL is operating its 300 dedicated Islamic branches and now Islamic banking has been introduced through branchless banking service, which received a very impressive response from the public," he said.
Over 25,000 accounts Islamic accounts were opened through agents’ networks through a brief period which would surge to over 200,000 by the end of 2022, according to Aurangzeb.
“HBL is the leading bank to provide facilities for auto and housing finance to overseas Pakistanis and their relatives under RDA. Since overseas Pakistanis are our assets, I would recommend that the scope of RDA should be enhanced to core sectors of the economy including SMEs and Agriculture,” Aurangzeb said.
Yousaf Hussain, CEO and President Faysal Bank Limited said the availability of the Islamic banking facility under RDA was a big deal because this element was rare in foreign countries.
"The reach of Islamic banking has increased in Pakistan after the conversion of Faysal Bank Limited to Islamic banking," he said.
Hussain urged overseas Pakistanis to support the flood-affected Pakistan in challenging times which could be done rapidly through donations using RDA services.