Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

1LINK

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Members
  
6,800+ ATMs

Operating area
  
Pakistan

Date founded
  
1999

1LINK (Guarantee) Limited is a consortium of major banks that own and operate the largest representative interbank network in Pakistan.

Contents

The 1LINK brand has grown as their number of member banks increases.

1LINK (Guarantee) Limited is a registered company, incorporated under the company law by Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).

Formation

  • Year 1999: ABN AMRO and Askari Bank connected their ATM network to provide expanded services to their customers.
  • Year 2002: SBP circular for the mandatory connectivity of either of the two switches (1LINK or MNET).
  • Year 2003: 1LINK formed with a consortium of eleven founder banks.
  • Year 2005: 1LINK partnership with Visa International using cutting edge technology
  • Year 2006: 1LINK launched Inter Bank Funds Transfer Service (IBFT)
  • Year 2007: 1LINK launched Utility Bill Payment Service (UBPS)

    • 1LINK is owned by the consortium of eleven major banks of the country and operates through a chief executive officer. The company Board consists of eleven directors, one from each founder member bank.

    The era of President General Pervez Musharraf starting from 1999 saw a revolution in banking industry. By using ATM, people had an ease of accessing their own money and they no longer had to go through the hassle of bank queues for withdrawing their own money.

    Membership history

    The number of 1LINK member banks has increased rapidly since the inception of the company in 2003.

    1LINK is the largest banking consortium in Pakistan. It is one of the two ATM switches operational in the country (the other is MNET, hosted by MCB Bank Ltd). The State Bank of Pakistan has mandated that all commercial banks in Pakistan, both foreign and domestic, become members of one or the other switch. Additionally, the two switches have been interconnected since 2006, which means that a consumer holding an ATM or debit card issued by any bank in Pakistan may use any ATM located throughout the country.

  • Year 2003: twelve member bank
  • Year 2004: fifteen member banks
  • Year 2005: seventeen member banks
  • Year 2006: twenty-two member banks
  • Year 2007: twenty-four member banks
  • Year 2008: twenty-nine member banks
  • Year 2009: thirty-one member banks
  • Future: sixty-six member banks

    • Statistics

  • Strength of thirty-one banks, including all Islamic banks of the country and two micro finance banks.
  • Pakistan’s largest ATM switch with 3,400+ ATMs in 200+ cities nationwide.
  • Debit/credit card base exceeding 7.11 Million.
  • Volume of PKR 14.2 billion (monthly average) of ATM withdrawal.
  • Inter bank funds transfer among more than 3,000 branches of participating IBFT Banks nationwide.
  • Monthly Rs. 388 million (approximately) transfer of funds among IBFT banks.

    • Services

    1. Shared ATM network
    2. Inter-bank funds transfer
    3. Visa services
    4. Utility Bill payment service
    5. Credit card acquiring
    6. Connectivity with other networks

    References

    1LINK Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA