KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday announced that building on its initiative of end-to-end digitisation of regulatory approval process — known as the Regulatory Approval System (RAS) — it has launched a module pertaining to the banking policy and regulation, with the goal of promoting green banking practices.

With the launch of this module in RAS, banks, Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) and Microfinance Banks (MFBs) can now submit their request letters or proposals on a dedicated online portal to SBP’s Banking Policy and Regulations Department whereby the central bank, after digitally processing them, would also be in a position to disseminate the regulatory decisions to them via the same portal.

Earlier in October 2020, SBP Governor Dr Reza Baqir had launched the SBP FX RAS for end-to-end digitisation of foreign exchange-related case submission process.

“The system turned out to be a huge success as it enabled the customers to lodge their FX related requests from the location of their convenience thereby sparing their valuable time previously spent in navigating the paper-based processes,” said the SBP adding that it also enabled banks to submit FX-related cases electronically for regulatory approval of SBP and SBP-Banking Services Corporation (BSC).

“Implementation of RAS for Banking Policy and Regulation related issues will be effective from November 24, 2021,” said the SBP.

It will enable banks, DFIs and MFBs to digitally submit their requests and receive regulatory decisions through a single window, said the SBP.

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2021