Roshan digital accounts attract more than $550mln in five months

KARACHI: Roshan digital accounts (RDA) have received $554 million inflows from overseas Pakistanis from 97 countries around the world in five months, with the number of accounts having reached 92,500, the central bank’s deputy governor said on Wednesday.

“In just 5 months since RDA was launched, more than 92,000 accounts have been opened by Overseas Pakistanis living in 97 countries around the world. Through these accounts, $554 million have been sent to Pakistan, with around two thirds invested in Naya Pakistan Certificates,” the SBP’s deputy governor Murtaza Syed said at the launch of RDA initiative by Dubai Islamic Bank.

“Every day, around $6-7 million is flowing in. Every day, around 500-600 accounts are being opened. These funds are providing overseas Pakistanis the opportunity to transact in their homeland and make profitable investments, while also helping Pakistan’s local economy and increasing our foreign reserves,” he said.

“RDA is therefore emerging as a real win-win for both overseas Pakistanis and their homeland.”

In his advice to the CEO, the staff and officers of DIB, he said while you are the 10th bank that is joining us, there is still a huge untapped market remaining and there are some advantages to starting late.

“You can learn from the experiences of other banks. You can avoid their mistakes and replicate what they are doing well. In particular, we have found the following to be important ingredients of success: personal involvement of the CEO, forming a dedicated team with adequate financial and human resources reporting directly to the CEO, ensuring good coordination among the retail, treasury, IT and marketing teams, designing a very good and easy to use online system, and constant and proactive customer support,” Syed said.

My second piece of advice is to keep innovating, he said and added study the different types of customers that are out there, engage with them, constantly strive to solve their problems quickly and professionally, make sure they are aware of your presence through aggressive and smart marketing and promotion, and keep providing them with new products and services to meet their needs, like auto loans and housing loans. This is a client that is hungry for access to the Pakistani market. Make the most of this opportunity.

Syed Irfan Ali, managing director of Deposit Protection Corporation State Bank of Pakistan in a presentation on the progress of RDA scheme said that approximately 35 percent of total RDA funds received so far are from the United Arab Emirates, 22 percent from Saudi Arabia, 7 percent from the United States and 5 percent from the United Kingdom, and 31 percent from the non-resident Pakistanis (NRPs) living in other countries.

He said $195 million have been invested in conventional Naya Pakistan Certificates (NPCs), while Islamic Naya Pakistan Certificates have attracted $163 million. Around $7 million have been invested in the stock market and property by NRPs.

“The momentum has been rising in the last few months,” Ali said and added that the demand for the Shariah-compliant paper is growing sharply.

“The inflows of $1 billion in RDA are very much achievable in future as more banks are joining this initiative,” Ali said.

Speaking on the occasion Junaid Ahmed CEO, Dubai Islamic Bank stated that Dubai Islamic Bank with presence across seven countries will soon become a major player for RDA.

“Our existing customer base of over 200,000 in UAE gives us an all-important advantage to capture the potential for Roshan Digital Accounts. Moreover, our Non Resident Pakistanis working in Dubai Islamic Bank UAE will also benefit from this product. Our focus is on a seamless experience and prompt response time for the customers.”