KARACHI. August 10, 2022. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), in collaboration with Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), unveiled the mass media campaign
for Asaan Mobile Account (AMA) a flagship initiative under the National Financial Inclusion Strategy,
today to mark its formal launch. AMA aims to address financial exclusion challenges faced by the
unbanked segments by providing them an easy, affordable and digital access to financial services, by
simply dialing a USSD code *2262#.
The launch of mass media campaign by SBP will help in creating general awareness about the AMA, its
ease of use and allied benefits to attract the unbanked segments into the formal financial network. The
mass media campaign will cover all major TV, radio, print and digital platforms, across the country.
Besides Urdu, the campaign will also be run in regional languages to ensure maximum outreach,
awareness, and understanding of the product by all Pakistanis across the country.
The mass media campaign has been designed from a user centric perspective. The campaign aims to
build public awareness about the ease of use and simplicity of opening AMA by simply dialing the USSD
code *2262# from any mobile phone (smart or simple feature phone) through any mobile network,
without the need for internet connectivity. Customers can choose their preferred bank from a list of
branchless banking providers and avail several banking services including fund transfer, deposit, bill
payments, mobile top-up, balance inquiry etc.
The mass media campaign, funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
(FCDO), is expected to play a crucial role in spreading digital financial inclusion among all, especially
among the low-income segments and women with mobile phones who may not have access to internet
and wish to have a simpler way to avail financial services. Moreover, AMA Scheme will be a perfect
conduit to onboard women customer segments as Pakistani women face distinct obstacles in accessing
formal financial services due to mobility and documentation hassles.
Earlier, the AMA scheme was introduced on December 13, 2021 with the key support of Pakistan
Telecommunication Authority (PTA) which ensured the onboarding/integration of all Cellular Mobile
Operators (CMOs) on the AMA platform. SBP also collaborated extensively with other stakeholders
including NADRA, Branchless Banking (BB) Providers, CMOs and Virtual Remittance Gateway (VRG), to
operationalize the AMA scheme for developing a digital solution for reaching out to every Pakistani to
build a prosperous and digitally connected Pakistan. The results of the soft launch proved very
encouraging as more than 3.3 million accounts have been opened on AMA platform with 6.1 million
financial transactions worth Rs 40.5 billion and over 18.2 million non-financial transactions conducted,
so far, before the launch of mass media campaign.
It is expected that the nationwide AMA mass media campaign together with the stakeholders’
commitment to collaborate will be instrumental in spreading awareness and promote digital financial
services among all.