Pakistan Post will offer banking services to its customers

Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin has endorsed a plan by the Pakistan Post Office Department (PPOD) to begin offering banking services, and he has urged that the PPOD get into cooperative ventures with existing financial institutions.

Tarin informed the cabinet that he would address the topic with the minister in charge of communications in order to finalise the mechanisms for this.

When discussing the need to dive deeper into the bigger subject of whether the government should be involved in operating commercial businesses, a cabinet member brought up the point that it was necessary to do so during a recent meeting.

Tarin pointed out that PPOD had a greater national reach than most organisations, with 14,000 branches around the nation.

Because scheduled banks served only 33 percent of the population, the national savings rate was significantly lower than the average for regional countries, even when compared to other countries in the region. Tarin believes that the launch of PPOD’s banking services, which will be available throughout the country, will contribute to an increase in the national savings rate.

The Ministry of Communications and Pakistan Post collaborated on a variety of initiatives to improve the banking, remittance, and insurance services provided by Pakistan Post.

Under the supervision of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), life insurance was moved to the newly established Postal Life Insurance Company (PLIC), while the function of Savings Bank had previously been transferred to the Central Directorate of National Savings (CDNS) (CDNS).

There was an urgent need to alter the Rules of Business 1973 in order to clarify the scope of activity and mandate of Pakistan Post, which had previously been unclear. The need for these adjustments was heightened even more by the government of Pakistan’s implementation of FATF-mandated reforms in a number of areas.

The imminent reform of Pakistan Post, which would be carried out in accordance with the government’s vision, would allow the company to significantly extend its range of services.