*ISLAMABAD – **State Bank of Pakistan unveils steps to improve digitalpayment system across the country. *
*In order to improve the digital payment infrastructure in Pakistan, theState Bank of Pakistan has decided to facilitate the Point of Sale (POS)acquiring industry.*
The State bank pointed out that there has been considerable growth in thedigital payment infrastructure of the country, especially in the number ofdebit cards being issued by the banks to their customers in past years.
“Although, the Point of Sale (POS) infrastructure has also grown during thepast few years, its growth has largely remained restricted to high valuemerchants in big cities. Some of the key challenges being faced by the POSacquiring industry in Pakistan include high Interchange Reimbursement Fee(IRF), lower than cost Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) to onboard high valuemerchants and less interest by banks in offering low cost domestic paymentcards to their customers,” read the circular issued by SBP.
The central bank said that in order to address the above challenges andincrease the POS card acceptance infrastructure in the country especiallyat retail level; in line with the objectives of National Payment SystemStrategy (NPSS), it has been decided to implement the following measures:
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– MDR for POS acquiring in Pakistan shall be within the range of 1.5 percent – 2.5pc for both existing and new merchants. The Merchant categories mentioned at Annexure link – A shall be exempt from this requirement. –
– The Interchange Reimbursement Fee (IRF) for debit and prepaid cards issued in Pakistan used on domestic POS terminals shall be capped at 0.5pc. –
– Card issuers shall offer SBP approved Domestic Payment Scheme (DPS) Card as the default card at the time of issuance or renewal of debit cards. Accordingly card requesting customers shall be offered the following options in order of priority: That is either an exclusive DPS card or a DPS card co-badged with an International Payment Scheme (IPS) or an exclusive IPS card upon written request of the customer, informed SBP. –
The SBP said that the instructions shall come into effect from April 01,2020.
