The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has launched its upgraded payment and settlement system, PRISM+, advancing the country’s financial digitization.
SBP Governor Jameel Ahmad said that with this launch, Pakistan joins a small group of countries whose retail and large-value payment systems follow the latest ISO standard. He acknowledged the World Bank’s contribution to the project.
for more visit https://mhblogs.org/
Ahmad highlighted that Pakistan’s financial landscape is rapidly digitizing across payments, fintech, e-commerce, and banking, with innovation driving changes in service delivery and consumer preferences. The recent digitization is visible in the emergence of retail payment infrastructure, such as RAAST, the country’s first instant payment system enabling end-to-end digital payments among individuals, businesses, and government entities.
The SBP chief noted that Pakistan has over 225 million bank and digital wallet account holders, including around 96 million unique users. There are 28 million registered users of commercial bank apps, 71 million branchless banking app users, and 17 million internet banking users.
Ahmad also highlighted the Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system, which transfers large sums of money between banks in real time, ensuring liquidity flows, supporting monetary policy, and minimizing financial disruption risks. He said PRISM, the RTGS system in Pakistan, processed transactions worth Rs. 1,043 trillion in 2024, ten times the country’s GDP.
