Information and Communication Technologies ICTs and International Financial

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and International Financial System (IFS) by S. Ghulam Panjtan Rizvi Additional Director General Pakistan Post 1

Need of ICT for Postal Sector • Post still important despite digital age • Postal business becoming increasingly competitive • Rapidly changing customer demands • Pakistan Post is providing postal services through 13, 000 post offices • Pakistan Post delivering mail to 20 million households and businesses 2

Major Areas of Activities • Exchange of official, commercial and private letters and communications • Dissemination of knowledge, culture and information at low price • Facilities to trade and industry for exchange of samples of merchandise at low cost 3

Major Areas of Activities • Remittances of money through Postal Orders, Postal Drafts and Money Order Services • Financial Services including Savings Bank • Postal Life Insurance • Agency functions on behalf of Federal/Provincial Governments 4

ICT in Pakistan Post • ICTs necessary for provision of service to 160 million population spread over 799, 795 sq kms • Aggressive targets for computerization were set and accomplished during the last five years 5

ICT Projects in Pakistan Post • Benazir Income Support Program (BISP) o A complete web-enabled tracking and monitoring system o Disbursement of Rs 35 billion at the door step to 3. 5 million beneficiaries during FY 2008 -09 o Disbursement of Rs 70 billion to 7 million beneficiaries during FY 2009 -10 o Tracking of disbursements and electronic reconciliation of funds 6

ICT Projects in Pakistan Post • Counter Automation o 116 Post Offices have been provided counter computerization facility for better service to the customers o 300 more post offices will be computerized in the next financial year 2009 -10 • Express Mail Track & Trace System (EMTTS) o The Express Mail Track and Trace System is a web based system o It is integrated with IPS for tracking of international articles 7

ICT Projects in Pakistan Post • Mobile Money Transfer Facility o Domestic money transfer using mobile (cellular) phone in collaboration with M/s Mobilink GSM o Instant money transfer now possible o Services of cash transactions provided by postal outlets 8

ICT Projects in Pakistan Post • Computerized Pension Payment System o Over 1. 2 million pensioners being served o Computerization of pension accounts in all the GPOs is in place o Pensioners receiving pension without hassle at computerized locations • Online Complaints Handling o Online complaint facility web-portal www. pakpost. gov. pk 9

International Financial System • Money remittance becoming increasingly competitive • IFS application developed by the Postal Technology Center, UPU to address problems • IFS using sophisticated data encryption techniques to ensure integrity of the data 10

Major Features of IFS • Worldwide tracking system • International accounting procedures • Fully customizable • Bi-lateral agreements for money transfers • Preparation of UPU standard international accounting documents 11

Other Money Transfer Options • Western Union (WU) • Money Gram • Cash to Cash • Afripayments • Eurogiro 12

Pakistan Post and WU • Agreement with Western Union since September 2002 • Service being offered at over 1000 outlets • Pakistan Post can only disburse inbound transactions • Foreign exchange being received through the legal channel 13

Comparison of IFS with WU • WU has presence in over 180 countries in contrast to 31 countries using IFS • No limit for number of locations in a single country • WU quite generous to offer equipment/ infrastructure for promotion of business 14

Implementation of IFS in Pakistan Post • Pakistan Post considering implementing IFS with the ECO member countries. • Major objective is to IFS for domestic money transfer which is under development at Postal Technology Center, UPU. 15

Postal Administrations using IFS • 31 countries using IFS include : o Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Djibouti, Ecuador, France, French Polynesia, Ivory Coast, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Madagascar, Moldova, Morocco, New Caledonia, Philippines, Russia, Senegal, South Korea, Spain, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates 16

Thank You 17