SBP reports strong growth in digital payments for Q3 FY25

June 25, 2025 (MLN): The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has released its Quarterly Payment Systems Review for Q3 FY25, highlighting continued growth in the country’s digital payments ecosystem.

Retail payment volumes surged by 12% to 2,408 million transactions, while the overall transaction value increased by 8% to Rs164 trillion.

Notably, digital channels accounted for 89% of all retail transactions, according to the press release issued today.

Mobile app-based platforms including mobile banking apps, branchless banking (BB) wallets, and e-money wallets collectively processed 1,686m transactions valuing Rs27tr, marking a 16% rise in volume and a 22% increase in value.

E-commerce payments rose by 40% in volume to 213m and by 34% in value to Rs258 billion compared to the previous quarter.

Digital wallets dominated the e-commerce segment with 94% (199.1m) share in value, while card-based online payments contributed only 6% (13.5m).

For in-store purchases, 140,861 merchants processed 99 million transactions (up 12%) worth PKR 550 billion (up 8%) via 179,383 point-of-sales terminals.

Merchants using QR codes processed 21.7m transactions amounting to Rs61bn.

User adoption of digital banking services also continued to grow.

Mobile banking app users rose to 22.6m (up 7%), e-Money wallet users increased to 5.3m (up 12%), BB wallet users reached 68.5m (up 6%), and internet banking users climbed to 14.1m (up 7%).

SBP-operated payment systems, Raast (Instant Payment System) and RTGS (Real-Time Gross Settlement System), played a crucial role in driving digital payments.

Raast processed 371m transactions worth Rs8.5tr in the quarter, with cumulative volumes since launch reaching 1.5bn transactions and over Rs34tr in value.

RTGS handled 1.5m large-value payments amounting to Rs347tr.

The shift toward a digital economy is supported by SBP’s strategic initiatives and collaborative efforts by banks, fintechs, and payment service providers.

SBP remains committed to promoting financial inclusion and enhancing payment efficiency across the board.

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