KARACHI – The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has scraped the mandatory fee of 1.5%, which was being charged by banks from merchants on financial transactions done through debit and credit cards.
The SBP has maintained maximum limit of the fee at 2.5%, according to a notification issued on Friday.
The central bank made it mandatory for all e-commerce players and online payment receivers in Pakistan to start accepting payments through cards maximum by June 30, 2023.
“Lower range (minimum fee) of merchant discount rate (MDR), ie 1.5%, is abolished…in order to facilitate the acceptance of card-based payments,” read the SBP notification.
“All e-commerce/ online payment acquirers operating in Pakistan shall enable acceptance of domestic payment scheme (DPS) card for card-not-present (CNP) transactions on their respective payment gateways by June 30, 2023.”
The fuel stations had stopped accepting payments through debit and credit cards and demanded the abolition of 1.5% fee.
Also, petroleum product dealers and oil marketing companies (OMCs) like Pakistan State Oil (PSO) sought permission from the authorities concerned for recovering the additional amount from cardholders so that their profit margins were not compromised. The authorities, however, turned down the demand.
