Digital channels drive 92% of retail payments in Pakistan: SBP

Pakistan’s shift toward a cashless economy accelerated during the second quarter of FY26, with digital channels accounting for 92% of all retail transactions, up from 88% a year earlier, according to the State Bank of Pakistan.

As per SBP’s Quarterly Report on Payment Systems for the quarter October to December 2025, 3.4 billion retail transactions were performed, out of which 92% were conducted through digital channels as compared to 88% during the same quarter last year.

Meanwhile, the number of retail transactions increased by 8% from the previous quarter, while their value increased by 7%, reaching Rs167 trillion.

The SBP report, released on Thursday, presented an overview of key payment trends of both low-value (retail) and high-value (RTGS) transactions conducted through formal banking and payment channels.

The number of payments through digital channels reached 3.1 billion, amounting to Rs64 trillion, reflecting the growing adoption of digital payment methods across the economy.

Mobile app-based payments continued to dominate the digital landscape, with 2.6 billion transactions conducted through apps offered by branchless banking (BB) players, banks, and EMIs.

These transactions accounted for 83% of all digital payments and amounted to Rs40 trillion in value, supporting a wide range of services including person-to-person transfers, bill payments, and account and wallet-based merchant payments across online platforms and physical retail outlets.

Internet banking also recorded steady growth, with transaction volume and value increasing by 11% and 22%, respectively.

During the quarter, Raast Instant Payment System continues to maintain strong growth momentum, processing 645.7 million transactions valuing Rs18.5 trillion. Person-to-Person (P2P) transactions rose to 603 million, increased by 13%, with a value of Rs15.7 trillion.

Raast P2M transactions, on the other hand, increased to 33.6 million, amounting to Rs167.6 billion.

Over 9 million transactions worth Rs2.6 trillion were processed by the government and corporates using Raast Bulk Service, showing rapid adoption of Raast for business and government payments.

The number of payment cards in circulation rose to 66.7 million, with debit cards comprising 87% of the total and credit cards accounting for 5% only.

While the rest include social welfare cards and prepaid cards.

Point-of-sale (PoS) terminals and e-commerce activity using cards continued to expand, collectively processing around 1.7 million card-based transactions per day. Meanwhile, a nationwide network of 20,976 ATMs facilitated 277 million transactions amounting to Rs4.9 trillion during the period.

In addition, 20,143 bank branches and 763,262 banking agents provided Over-the-Counter (OTC) services such as cash deposits, withdrawals, fund transfers, and bill payments. Bank branches processed 138 million transactions valued at Rs102 trillion, while banking agents facilitated 135 million transactions amounting to Rs0.9 trillion.

Overall, these trends underscore Pakistan’s ongoing transition toward a more inclusive, efficient, and digitally enabled payments landscape.