Pakistan processed 92 percent of its retail payment transactions through digital channels during fiscal year 2025-26, an increase from 88 percent the previous year. Overall digital payments experienced a 65 percent year-on-year growth, reaching a total of 13.2 billion transactions.
The total value of retail payments through formal banking channels amounted to Rs. 673 trillion, involving 14.3 billion transactions. Transaction volume across these channels increased by 58 percent compared to the previous year.
Mobile phone-based payment solutions recorded over 11.1 billion transactions throughout the year, marking a 79 percent rise from fiscal year 2025. Online banking portals handled approximately 0.3 billion transactions, representing a 15 percent increase from the preceding year.
Across 295,367 merchant locations, the number of point-of-sale terminals reached 337,791. These terminals managed nearly 1.5 million card payments daily, up from roughly 1 million daily payments recorded in fiscal year 2025.
The number of users for branchless banking mobile applications reached 99.1 million. Users of banks’ mobile applications rose to 30.4 million.
Account-based online payments constituted 96 percent of all e-commerce transactions processed via banking channels. A significant development occurred in August 2025 with the launch of PRISM+.
This new system, PRISM+, moved Pakistan’s real-time gross settlement system to adhere to the ISO 20022 standard.
