KARACHI, Pakistan -- Speakers at a Karachi seminar on Aug. 28 urged the banks to push for service-based technology progress to benefit the customers, according to a report in the English-language newspaper Dawn.
"In the challenging era of e-commerce it is imperative for both the government and the private banking sector to work closely with each other," said Sindh Finance Minister Dr. Hafeez Sheikh.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has set June 30 as the deadline for all banks to become a member of either of the two switches operating in Pakistan -- one by ABN Amro and the other by Muslim Commercial Bank. (See related story Pakistan promoting ATM interconnectivity)
The speakers at the seminar said this major development would provide all the banking customers with the ability to access their funds through the existing switches.
Country assistant manager of ABN Amro, Najibur Rehman, said it was time for the banks to focus on service-based technology progress.
Muslim Commercial Bank's head of consumer banking Arij Ali said that the switching transition should be economical so that the banks find it feasible to update themselves with the growing market demands.
The seminar was organized by Transaction Processing Systems (TPS), a company specializing in ATM and switching technologies.
