Pakistan conducted 92 percent of its retail payment transactions through digital channels in fiscal year 2025-26, while overall digital payments grew by 65 percent year-on-year to 13.2 billion transactions, according to the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) latest Annual Payment Systems Review.
The data shows a sharp shift toward mobile banking, internet banking, e-money wallets, QR payments, and other digital payment methods across the country.
Overall, 14.3 billion retail payment transactions were conducted through formal banking channels during FY26, valued at Rs. 673 trillion. Transaction volume increased 58 percent year-on-year, while the value of payments rose 10 percent.
Digital channels accounted for 92 percent of total retail payment transactions in FY26, up from 88 percent a year earlier.
Mobile phone-based payment solutions led the growth, recording more than 11.1 billion transactions during the year. This represented a 79 percent increase from FY25.
Internet banking also continued to expand, with online banking portals processing around 0.3 billion transactions, up 15 percent from the previous year.
The growth was supported by the expansion of digital payment infrastructure across the country.
The number of point-of-sale terminals reached 337,791 across 295,367 merchant locations. These terminals handled nearly 1.5 million card payments per day, compared with around 1 million daily payments in FY25.
Pakistan also saw continued growth in smartphone-based banking. Branchless banking mobile app users reached 99.1 million, while users of banks’ mobile applications rose to 30.4 million.
E-commerce payments also remained heavily dependent on digital channels. Account-based online payments made up 96 percent of e-commerce transactions conducted through banking channels.
The SBP said the payments landscape continued to evolve during FY26 as consumers, businesses, and financial institutions increasingly adopted digital payment channels.
A major development during the year was the launch of PRISM+ in August 2025, which moved Pakistan’s real-time gross settlement system to the ISO 20022 standard.
The upgraded system is aimed at improving the efficiency, transparency, and security of payment processing across retail and large-value transactions.
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