Q3: 83pc of retail payments are digital transactions, says SBP

KARACHI: Pakistan’s payment system has been witnessing continuous and significant progress in the adoption of digital payment channels.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday released its Quarterly Payment Systems Report for the third quarter (Jan-Mar) of the fiscal year 2023-24. The report presents a quarterly review of payment landscape of the country.

As per the report, digital transactions were 83 percent of total retail payments for the quarter, processed by Banks and Electronic Money Institutions (EMIs) whereas 17 percent of transactions were conducted Over-the-Counter (OTC) at bank branches.

Country’s payment infrastructure shows a robust growth

Collectively, Banks and EMIs processed 844 million retail payments amounting to PKR 128,470 billion during the quarter. This included 47 percent funds transfer transactions, 33% cash withdrawals, 11 percent POS and e-commerce purchases, 6 percent bill payments and mobile top-ups, and the remaining transactions comprised deposits, tax payments, invoice-based payments, and donations.

The report also mentioned that Pakistan’s payment system has been witnessing continuous and significant progress in the adoption of digital payment channels.

During the quarter, the digital user base in Pakistan showed remarkable average growth of 8 percent, reaching to 59 million BB mobile app users, 17 million mobile banking app users, 11 million internet banking users, and 3 million EMIs’ e-wallet users at the close of the quarter.

Mobile phone and internet banking services continued to be the preferred channels of customers, with mobile phone banking transactions increasing by 8 percent to 301 million and internet banking transactions growing by 3 percent to 59 million.

The amount processed through these channels reached Rs 12.955 trillion for mobile phone banking and Rs 6.467 trillion for internet. The delivery of payment services across Pakistan is facilitated by an extensive network, including 18,049 bank branches, 18,655 ATMs, 120,641 POS terminals, and 648,333 BB agents.

Raast, Pakistan’s instant payment system, processed 140 million transactions totalling PKR 3,437 billion in Q3 of FY24, marking a 31 percent increase in volume and a 48 percent increase in value from the previous quarter.

This significant growth underscores Raast’s crucial role in the nation’s payment landscape. Furthermore, a total of 1.5 million transactions amounting to Rs 315.596 trillion were settled through PRISM (RTGS) which included settlement of government securities, funds transfers and ancillary clearing transactions.