News in Brief

SBP Sets Fitness and Authentication Standards

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is seeking to standardise the parameters used by banknote sorting machines to ensure uniform fitness standards across the different models and makes of equipment being used.

SBP originally issued a circular in September 2014, FD Circular No.1/2014, which provided machine fitness and authentication sorting parameters to banks, establishing minimum standards for their machine sorting. It has now issued a new circular intended to streamline the sorting process and maintain consistency in results for high-end Banknote Processing and Authentication Systems (BPAS), Desktop Note Sorting (DNS), and Countertop Note Sorting (CNS).

The first phase has been to implement these standards at SBP’s premises and all of its field offices. In the second phase SBP, in collaboration with banks, has calibrated banknote processing machines deployed in Karachi. Readings for each make and model have been set so that banks can now calibrate all their machines at their cash processing centres and branches. This has to be completed by 31 December 2023.