, innovative and always eager banking and telecom industry in the country. i would like to share some numbers that show the level of take - up of branchless banking services in the country. for example : • currently, eight branchless banking deployments are live in the market and four more are yet to go live this year. • up to december 2013, providers ’ combined network has reached to almost 125, 000 agents spread across all over pakistan. • total number of branchless banking transactions has shown continuous growth in each successive quarter. 54 million transactions worth rs. 234 billion were performed during the quarter ended december 2013. bis central bankers ’ speeches • currently 3. 5 million customers hold branchless banking accounts ( also known as m - wallets ) to avail host of services including fund transfer, utility bill payment, domestic remittance, mobile top ups, loan repayment, and saving account features. • branchless banking has played a pivotal role in providing efficient financially inclusive government to person ( g2p ) payments to welfare beneficiaries of benazir income support program ( bisp ), watan card and bayt - ul - mall. ladies & gentlemen, while we have achieved initial success through accumulating a critical mass of transactions and customers ’ acquisition in branchless banking, we are by no means complacent. we are focusing our energies to identify gaps and bring solutions to address those gaps. sbp is strengthening its regulatory oversight through measures such as regular diagnostic and inspections, compliance forum, and agent monitoring system. sbp has also formed the national branchless banking consultative group which draws representation from branchless banking industry players including banks, mobile operators, and technology service providers. this group is actively working on different protocols including agent code of conduct, agent sharing models, interoperability schemes, consumer protection framework etc. ladies & gentlemen, it is a matter of great comfort and satisfaction for banking and telecom companies that their respective regulators i. e. sbp and pta share the vision and are working in close collaboration to provide an enabling regulatory environment for development of mobile / branchless banking services. keeping in view the importance of interoperability for promotion of branchless / mobile banking, sbp and pta are working closely in developing a regulatory framework for third party service provider ( tpsp ). eventually, mobile financial services would become interoperable once tpsp regulatory framework is issued. going forward, much is still needed to be done. sbp

is keen to work with different stakeholders of mobile / branchless banking industry eco - system to provide an enabling environment for the creation of mobile / branchless banking ecosystem in the country. i trust that the today ’ s deliberations will take stock of the opportunities and challenges offered branchless banking and its related products. i also hope that the forum would come up with recommendations on how to harness potential of branchless banking for financial inclusion in pakistan. thank you! bis central bankers ’ speeches