Pakistan · Account Transfer · Est. 2021
Pakistan's instant payment system launched by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) as part of its Digital Pakistan vision. Raast (meaning "direct path" in Urdu) enables 24/7 real-time transfers between banks and fintech providers via IBAN, mobile number (Raast ID), or CNIC (national ID). Designed with ISO 20022 messaging from the ground up, Raast supports P2P, P2M, and bulk/salary disbursements. With Pakistan's 220M+ population and only ~30% banked, Raast is a critical financial inclusion tool. It also includes a request-to-pay feature and plans for QR-based merchant payments.
Raast is Pakistan’s real-time payment system (Account Transfer), launched in 2021. Pakistans instant payment system launched by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) as part of its Digital Pakistan vision.
Raast processed 2.1 billion transactions worth $90.0bn in 2025, a year-on-year change of +40.0%.
Raast is operated by SBP, with instant settlement.
Raast launched in 2021, and today has 50 participating institutions.
Raast supports proxy/alias lookup, ISO 20022 messaging.
Data source: SBP.
| Capability | Status |
|---|---|
| QR Code Payments | — |
| Wallet Support | — |
| 24/7 Availability | ✓ |
| Cross-Border | — |
| ISO 20022 | ✓ |
| Request to Pay | — |
| Open API | ◐ |
| Alias/Proxy | ✓ |