Governor SBP Sees Cooperation Among SAARC Countries for Regional Banking Framework

Governor State Bank of Pakistan, Ashraf Mahmood Wathra, has emphasized the importance of enhanced cooperation among the central banks to develop regional correspondent banking channels for facilitating the trade and flow of remittances in the region.

He was addressing the inaugural session on the seminar on “Payment Systems and Correspondent Banking in the SAARC Region” organized by SBP under the auspices of SAARCFINANCE on Monday at National Institute of Banking and Finance (NIBAF) Islamabad. The seminar was attended by participants from central banks of SAARC countries. Local and foreign experts on the subject shared their views on different dimensions of correspondent banking.

The SBP Governor emphasized that there is a need for strengthening payment and settlement mechanisms. He said that the regulators of SAARC region need to interact, coordinate and discuss Payment Systems issues in order to find common solutions to address the challenges that are being faced in this domain with the objective of facilitating trade, commerce and remittance flows.

He was of the view that the cost and time of monetary transactions can be reduced significantly if SAARC countries are able to develop their own corresponding banking system. He also made it clear that the regional countries cannot afford to ignore the risks and responsibilities relating to money laundering that are increasingly being faced by financial institutions in today’s world.

It may be mentioned here that this was the first ever Seminar on Correspondent Banking and Payment Systems at the SAARC level aimed at providing the regional central banks an opportunity to share policies and practices prevalent in their respective jurisdictions, and explore new areas of cooperation.

Comments

World’s First Urdu Speaking AI Assistant Launched

C-Square, in collaboration with Genesys, has launched the world’s first Urdu-based speaking AI bot called RUBA at the Smart CX conference in Karachi. Similar to Apple’s Siri, Google’s Assistant and Microsoft’s Cortana personal assistants, RUBA is an abbreviation for Real Urdu Bot Automation. The bot can speak and understand Urdu while working as your personal assistant in performing tasks such as messaging someone. Read Related: www.thepakupdates.pk C-Square CEO, Ahsan Mashkoor demonstrated the bot at the conference, saying: RUBA was made in Urdu because of the local population in Pakistan, and for the large labour force working in the Middle-East. Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions (Safron), Shehryar Khan Afridi, appreciated the efforts of C-Square, saying that Pakistan is moving in the right direction in terms of technology. Talking about the importance of Urdu, he said: It is important for us to learn English, it is good that we learn Chines...

NADRA Makes a Substantial Reducation in Smart ID Card Fees

The fee for the Smart National Identity Card (SNIC) has been decreased by NADRA. Interior Minister, Chaudhry Nisar, has ordered the authority to reduce the fees for the smart ID cards substantially, we have learned. Smart National Identity Card The smart ID card contains a QR code for easier and faster identification as well as a data chip with 36 security features which makes it one of the most secure cards in the world. Each layer of the card comes with its own security features and it also has secure communication protocols for remote identification. A large amount of space on the card has been made available for the private sector to utilise for their products and services. Although, its expensive private sectot to use this card, once the number of smart card users in the country reaches critical mass, it will be much more profitable for them to use this universal and secure platform. New Fee Structure NADRA has decreased the fee for smart ID card from Rs. 15...

Online Passport Renewal Service Revealed in Pakistan

Like we told you earlier about the NADRA’s online passport system that they have been developing for quite some time now and it appears that we have finally a sneak peak of what it will look like at the time of launch. NADRA and Directorate General of Immigration and Passports have collaborated to offer Pakistani citizens a service that they badly needed, i.e. to be able renew their passports online without going to Passport offices. Service would be aimed for both Pakistanis living in Pakistan and abroad. Service is currently not available immediately, but it is said that service will be made available very soon now. Anyone with an expired passport or if its validity is less than 7 months would be able to ahead and apply for passports online and get the renewed passport delivered to a designated postal address. Apply for Passport Renewal Online Make sure you have all supporting documents available with you. You should...

Pro Pakistani

Search This Blog