KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has announced a temporary waiver of One Time Password (OTP)/ Call Back Confirmation (CBC) requirements for opening of Asaan Mobile Account (AMA).

The SBP, in December 2019, issued Branchless Banking (BB) Regulations for Financial Institutions and the Asaan Mobile Account (AMA) launched in December 2021. AMA is level 0 (zero) BB account that can be opened remotely through an interoperable USSD platform without the use of the internet.

With a view to further facilitate opening of AMA, SBP has decided to temporarily waive the One Time Password (OTP)/ Call Back Confirmation (CBC) requirement, as stipulated under section 4.3 of the BB regulations subject to some conditions.

For this waiver, the customer will have to conduct a NADRA biometric verification (BVS) on first cash-in or cash-out, whichever is earlier, but no later than sixty (60) days of account opening.

In case of failure to conduct BVS within the stipulated time, the account shall be treated as debit blocked after serving ten (10) days prior notice/ intimation to the customers.

AS per SBP directives, the banks will be required to put a robust monitoring mechanism in place to evaluate and mitigate any possible risks (fraudulent instances including layering of accounts, SIM swapping, etc.) on AMA and submit a monthly report to AC&MFD-SBP of the recorded fraudulent/ suspicious transactions on the enclosed format.

The waiver of OTP/ CBC on AMAs will be effective immediately and shall remain valid for a period of six (06) months ending November 10, 2022. Thereafter, a decision will be taken based on the aforesaid monthly reporting to SBP. All other instructions on the subject matter shall remain unchanged, says SBP.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022