Pakistan banks begin biometric verification of account holders

Under the directive of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) commercial banks in the country have started the process of biometrically verifying the identity of millions of its existing account holders throughout the country, according to a report by Pro Pakistan.

SBP has set June 30th, 2019 as the first deadline date for banks and account holders. According to SBP data, there are nearly 50 million accounts in the banking industry of Pakistan. The commercial bank base stands at nearly 16 million account holders and 34 million microfinance and branchless banking account holders.

Banks are also expected to carry out biometric verification of account holders for corporations of different turnover values, charitable organizations, and associations. According to the Pro Pakistan report this process is separate, immensely complicated and involves a lot of documentation.

The requirement for the biometric verification of bank accounts came about after suspicious financial activities were discovered by intelligence agencies and a number of accounts were were linked to corruption and money laundering.

According to data vendor GlobalData, 67 percent of global consumers prefer to use biometrics instead of passwords for financial services as soon as 2019.

Article Topics

banking  |  biometrics  |  identity verification  |  Pakistan