The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has reported strong growth in the country’s formal payment system during fiscal year 2025-26, with digital channels continuing to expand their role in everyday financial transactions.
According to the SBP’s Annual Report on Payment Systems, retail payments conducted through formal banking channels rose to 14.3 billion transactions during FY26, with a combined value of Rs673 trillion. Transaction volume increased by 58 per cent year-on-year, while value grew by 10 per cent.
Digital payments accounted for 13.2 billion of the total transactions, registering a 65 per cent annual increase. Their share of overall retail payments consequently climbed to 92 per cent from 88 per cent a year earlier.
Mobile-based payment solutions remained the leading digital channel, processing more than 11.1 billion transactions, up 79 per cent from FY25. Internet banking platforms handled around 300 million transactions, reflecting 15 per cent growth over the previous fiscal year.
The expansion of digital payment infrastructure also supported the trend. The number of point-of-sale (POS) terminals increased to 337,791 across 295,367 merchant locations. These terminals processed nearly 1.5 million card payments per day, compared with about one million daily transactions in FY25.
E-commerce payments also continued to expand, with account-based online payments making up 96 per cent of e-commerce transactions processed through banking channels.
The report noted continued growth in mobile-based banking services, with branchless banking mobile app users reaching 99.1 million and bank mobile app users rising to 30.4 million.
A key development during FY26 was the launch of PRISM+ in August 2025, which shifted Pakistan’s real-time gross settlement (RTGS) system to the ISO 20022 standard. The upgraded platform is aimed at enhancing the efficiency, transparency and security of payment processing across both retail and large-value transactions.
With PRISM+ now operational, Pakistan has joined countries where both wholesale payment systems and retail instant payment infrastructure are based on the ISO 20022 standard.
The SBP said it would continue efforts to develop secure, efficient and inclusive payment systems while strengthening the country’s financial infrastructure in line with technological advancements and international standards.
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