Key Points
- Pakistan’s digital payments continue to rise, with 92 per cent of retail transactions now conducted online.
- Mobile app-based payments dominate, accounting for 83 per cent of all digital transactions.
- The Raast Instant Payment System shows strong growth in person-to-person, person-to-merchant, and bulk payments.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s State Bank has released its Quarterly Payment Systems Review for the period October to December 2025, reporting significant growth in both digital and overall payment activity.
According to the report, 3.4 billion retail transactions were conducted during the quarter, up 8 per cent from the previous quarter, with a total value of PKR 167 trillion.
Digital channels processed 92 per cent of these transactions, up from 88 per cent in the same period last year.
Mobile app-based payments continue to lead, with 2.6 billion transactions conducted through branchless banking, banks, and electronic money institutions, representing 83 per cent of all digital payments and totalling PKR 40 trillion.
These payments covered person-to-person transfers, bill payments, and merchant payments across online and physical retail outlets.
Internet banking also showed strong growth, with transaction volumes up 11 per cent and values up 22 per cent.
The Raast Instant Payment System maintained robust momentum, processing 645.7 million transactions worth PKR 18.5 trillion.
Person-to-person transactions reached 603 million (PKR 15.7 trillion), while person-to-merchant payments rose to 33.6 million (PKR 167.6 billion).
Government and corporate users processed over 9 million transactions worth PKR 2.6 trillion through Raast Bulk Service.
Card payments and banking infrastructure
Payment cards in circulation increased to 66.7 million, with debit cards accounting for 87 per cent, credit cards 5 per cent, and the remainder consisting of social welfare and prepaid cards.
Point-of-sale terminals and e-commerce transactions processed roughly 1.7 million card-based transactions per day. ATMs, totalling 20,976 nationwide, facilitated 277 million transactions worth PKR 4.9 trillion.
Over-the-counter services were delivered through 20,143 bank branches and 763,262 banking agents, handling 138 million transactions valued at PKR 102 trillion and 135 million transactions worth PKR 0.9 trillion, respectively.
Outlook
The report underscores Pakistan’s continued transition toward an inclusive, efficient, and digitally enabled payments ecosystem, highlighting strong adoption of mobile and instant payment platforms, besides financial access across the country.
For full report: https://www.sbp.org.pk/psd/pdf/PS-Review-Q2FY26.pdf
