By Rizwan Bhatti

Copyright brecorder

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has announced that donations for the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for flood, earthquake and other calamities can now be deposited in a single dedicated account, with all commercial and microfinance banks directed to accept contributions through cash, cheques, internet and mobile banking channels

In order to facilitate donors a single account has been opened in SBP vide IBAN: PK69FGPM0024 632999990624 for collection of donations to the Fund. SBP has directed all commercial and microfinance banks to receive donations in cash or cheques at all their branches across the country for onward credit to this account.

Banks have also been advised to enable their internet banking, mobile banking Apps and mobile wallets Apps for collection of donations in the said account. SBP has also provided multiple options to donors for making donation to the Fund as described below:

For domestic donations, donors and contributors may make their donations to the fund in cash at any branch of any bank operating in Pakistan, which shall transfer the amount collected either through Raast or RTGS to SBP. Similarly, donations may also be made at any of the field offices of SBP Banking Services Corporation.

The donors may make their donations to the Fund by dropping crossed cheques in the name of the Fund in their respective bank’s drop box. SBP has directed all banks to make available a drop-box facility at their selected branches for donors where they may drop their crossed cheques in favour of the Fund. The banks shall, accordingly, debit the customer’s account and transfer the donation through Raast.

Banks shall mandatorily provide the option for collecting donations via their internet banking, mobile banking Apps and mobile wallets Apps. Banks shall also remove all limits on such transfers. The commercial and microfinance banks shall prominently display the above mentioned IBAN at their websites and ADCs.

Overseas Pakistanis can remit their donations by wire-transfer or by using the services of Money Service Bureaus (MSBs), Money Transfer Operators (MTOs) or Exchange Houses (EHs).

SBP has also advised the banks to inform their MTOs regarding the details of the Fund account, mechanism for remittance of donations and display the details on their website and social media platforms for information of overseas donors. The donations received by the NBP shall be surrendered to the Fund’s principal account maintained with SBP.

The transactions on account of the donations to the Fund will not be claimed under ‘Reimbursement of TT Charges Scheme’; rather the same will be on “Fee-Based Model”.

Banks will be required to maintain the details of individual donors i.e. name of donor, the amount of his/her donation, mode of payment etc., with them, which shall be made available to SBP as and when needed. The banks shall also share details of individual donors, amount of their donations and mode of payment on a weekly basis with the NDMA.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2025