SBP expands scope of data collection to curtail digital banking frauds

May 27, 2022: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday directed all scheduled banks as well as microfinance banks to submit data of all digital frauds and scams on a monthly basis while the purview of reporting is also expanded from fake calls by Fraudsters to other digital channels including the mobile app, E-Commerce Transactions, ATMs and POS.

According to a circular letter issued here by SBP’s Banking Conduct and Consumer Protection Department, the data that need to be submitted includes all frauds and scams reported at call centres or through other means such as email, letters, or otherwise detected by the banks and MFBs themselves.

In February 2021, the central bank started the collection of information to curtail digital banking frauds and directed banks and MFBs to submit relevant data but the data was mainly limited to information about fake calls.

Now the SBP has expanded the scope of data collection to other digital channels or mediums used by fraudsters to extract amounts from accounts which included Mobile App or wallet, tokenization, E-Commerce transactions, Merchant Payment Authorisation (via USSD/Mobile App/Internet Banking), Internet Banking, USSD, BB Agent Retail Application, ATMs, POS, and other digital channels.

Banks/ MFBs shall report data as per the prescribed format to the Banking Supervision Department (BSD)-2 of SBP on monthly basis within 10 days from the close of every month, the circular added.

SBP in collaboration with other stakeholders had initiated various measures to curtail digital banking frauds including a collection of information in order to successfully design and deploy additional measures.

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