THE State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), under the dynamic leadership of its Governor, Dr.Reza Baqir, is playing a dominant role in the process of digitization of the economy and empowerment of the people.
It has launched a number of initiatives for the purpose and on Thursday it rolled out a free, instant payment system that would go a long way in promoting cashless transactions.
The person-to-person payment system, called Raast, will provide an easy and hassle-free digital fund transfer service to customers and that is why the SBP chief has rightly termed it as a game changer.
Raast P2P is a state-of-the-art, instant, and free person-to-person payment system designed to make it easier to adopt digital channels for daily payment needs by de facto using a mobile number as a bank account.
Customers would be able to send and receive funds using either their International Bank Account Number (IBAN) or their Raast ID.
Initially, customers would be able to use their registered mobile numbers as their Raast ID and link it to any of their bank account for conveniently receiving funds.
Funds successfully transferred through Raast should be credited into the recipients’ accounts within 20 seconds of receiving the credit advice from the Raast system.
The very fact that at least 22 banks have started this service as of 03 February is an encouraging development as it shows our banking system is on firm foundations to adopt latest technologies and offer innovative solutions to their customers.
The Raast is expected to become popular as funds transfer through this system is free and it is much more convenient to memorize a phone number than an account number.
As has been anticipated by the spokesperson of the central bank, Raast might become a gateway to make payments more seamless and connected, with a hassle-free experience between people, businesses and organizations to disburse day-to-day low-ticket transactions and payments with a universal infrastructure.
