ISLAMABAD – Digital channels accounted for 92 percent of Pakistan’s retail payment transactions during fiscal year 2025-26, up from 88% a year earlier, highlighting the rapid shift toward digital financial services, according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
The central bank, in its Annual Report on Payment Systems, said 13.2 billion of the 14.3 billion retail transactions conducted through formal banking channels during FY26 were processed digitally. Digital transactions recorded year-on-year growth of 65%.
Overall retail payments through formal banking channels reached 14.3 billion transactions during the fiscal year, with a combined value of Rs673 trillion. Transaction volume increased by 58% compared with FY25, while the value of payments grew by 10%.
Mobile phone-based payment solutions remained the main driver of digital activity, processing more than 11.1 billion transactions, an increase of 79% from the previous fiscal year.
Internet banking portals handled around 300 million transactions, registering 15% year-on-year growth.
The SBP said the continued expansion of digital payments was supported by policy measures, improved digital infrastructure and initiatives led by the financial industry, with consumers, businesses and financial institutions increasingly using mobile applications, internet banking, e-money wallets and QR-based payment services.
The digital shift was also reflected in the expansion of payment acceptance infrastructure. The country’s point-of-sale network grew to 337,791 terminals across 295,367 merchant locations. These terminals supported nearly 1.5 million card payments per day, compared with around 1 million daily payments in the previous fiscal year.
E-commerce payments also continued to expand, with account-based online payments making up 96% of e-commerce transactions conducted through banking channels.
The number of users of branchless banking mobile applications rose to 99.1 million, while banks’ mobile app users reached 30.4 million, indicating growing reliance on smartphone-based financial services.
The report also highlighted the launch of PRISM+ in August 2025, which marked the transition of Pakistan’s Real-Time Gross Settlement System to the ISO 20022 standard.
The SBP said the developments during FY26 reflected the continued transformation of Pakistan’s formal payment ecosystem and the growing importance of digital channels in everyday financial transactions.
