Forex processing at banks to go digital by Feb end

KARACHI: Managing Director of State Bank of Pakistan’s Banking Services Corporation Muhammad Ashraf Khan on Monday said majority of the banks would start processing 88 percent of foreign exchange digitally by the end of February and 98 percent by April 2021.

“The digitalisation of foreign exchange, which started in March 2020, has been expanded from 8 to 13 banks, while banks will completely discontinue paper-based submissions after June 2021,” said MD SBP-BSC, speaking at a meeting during his visit to the Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI).

Khan said the initiative to digitalise foreign exchange operations was taken to facilitate the business community by completely eradicating the paperwork and expediting the overall process, which had successfully been implemented by many banks.

Head of Foreign Exchange Operations Department SBP Shakeel Muhammad Paracha, Director Exchange Policy Department SBP Arshad Mehmood Bhatti, Vice President KCCI Shamsul Islam Khan, Chairman of KCCI’s Banking & Insurance Subcommittee Qazi Zahid Hussain, Adviser Banking & Insurance Subcommittee Ateeq ur Rehman and others attended the meeting.

MD SBP-BSC said everything had been transferred from manual to digital processing and now the customers had the freedom to get online anytime either from their home or office to apply for delivery of remittances without any paperwork, while the customers would receive updates and objections (if any) about his transaction on his/her registered email address.

While assuring full support and cooperation, Khan stressed that the business and industrial community must come forward to adopt the digital mode for foreign exchange in which the customers could get registered themselves and track progress of case.