Digital Payments Dominate as Raast Sees Significant Growth, SBP Quarterly Report

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has released its Quarterly Payment Systems Report for the third quarter (January-March) of the fiscal year 2023-24, highlighting a major shift towards digital transactions in the country’s payment landscape.

According to the report, digital transactions made up 83% of total retail payments for the quarter, processed by Banks and Electronic Money Institutions (EMIs), while 17% were conducted Over-the-Counter (OTC) at bank branches. In total, Banks and EMIs handled 844 million retail payments, amounting to PKR 128,470 billion.

The distribution of transactions included 47% for funds transfers, 33% for cash withdrawals, 11% for POS and e-commerce purchases, 6% for bill payments and mobile top-ups, with the remaining transactions involving deposits, tax payments, invoice-based payments, and donations.

The report underscores a significant increase in the adoption of digital payment channels. The digital user base in Pakistan saw an average growth of 8% during the quarter, reaching 59 million BB mobile app users, 17 million mobile banking app users, 11 million internet banking users, and 3 million EMIs’ e-wallet users. Mobile phone banking transactions rose by 8% to 301 million, while internet banking transactions grew by 3% to 59 million. The total amount processed through these channels was PKR 12,955 billion for mobile phone banking and PKR 6,467 billion for internet banking.

Raast, Pakistan’s instant payment system, demonstrated remarkable growth, processing 140 million transactions worth PKR 3,437 billion, marking a 31% increase in volume and a 48% rise in value compared to the previous quarter. This growth highlights Raast’s pivotal role in Pakistan’s payment infrastructure. Additionally, PRISM (RTGS) settled 1.5 million transactions amounting to PKR 315,596 billion, covering government securities, funds transfers, and ancillary clearing transactions.