The Biz Update One of Pakistan's Most Reliable Business News Website
Related Articles
KARACHI June 23,2026: The State Bank of Pakistan’s instant payment system, Raast, is on track to process over $500 billion (around Rs140 trillion) in transactions by December 2026, according to Raast Payment Pakistan CEO Ahson Saeed on Tuesday. He said this would exceed Pakistan’s projected GDP of $452 billion for FY26.
Speaking at the 19th Mobile Commerce 2026 conference, Saeed said Raast already handles 10–11 million transactions daily. On peak days, it processes over Rs500 billion. Therefore, he added, the system is growing at a pace that could push annual volumes beyond $500 billion this year.
Moreover, he highlighted a major upcoming upgrade. The SBP plans to introduce a consent-based “pull payment” system. This will allow businesses to collect payments directly from customer accounts after approval. In addition, the system will use tokenization to strengthen security. It is currently under testing and will launch soon.
To add context, Raast processed 646 million transactions worth Rs18 trillion in Q2 FY26. As a result, officials say digital payments are expanding rapidly across Pakistan.
Furthermore, Saeed said the system is evolving into a broader digital payment ecosystem. New tools such as Payment Initiation Service Providers (PISPs) will enable secure, consent-based transactions. He confirmed that this model is already in testing.
Meanwhile, Sindh IT Minister Ali Rashid said Pakistan is accelerating work on digital and crypto assets. He noted that investor interest in crypto has grown sharply.
In addition, 1Link CEO Najeeb Agrawalla said the PayPak network is expanding. He announced that PayPak credit cards and tokenized payments will launch in 2026.
Similarly, Karandaaz Pakistan’s Faisal Mahmood said Pakistan already has strong digital infrastructure. However, he stressed that greater adoption is needed to unlock full economic value.
Finally, digital banking leaders said customer trust remains key. They added that removing “digital” from bank branding helps build confidence among users.
