The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has released its Annual Report on Payment Systems, highlighting that fiscal year 2025-26 witnessed a strong momentum in the ongoing transformation of the payment landscape, with consumers, businesses, and financial institutions increasingly embracing mobile apps, internet banking, e-money wallets, QR-based payments, and other digital channels. This growth has been supported by various policy measures, improved digital infrastructure, and industry-led initiatives.

Retail payments through formal banking channels during FY26 registered a significant growth, reaching 14.3 billion transactions valued at Rs673 trillion, representing a year-on-year growth of 58% in volume and 10% in value. Digital channels continued to gain traction as consumers increasingly adopted mobile banking apps, internet banking, and e-money wallets for everyday payments.

Out of the 14.3 billion transactions conducted through formal banking channels, 13.2 billion transactions were conducted through digital channels, representing a year-on-year growth of 65%. Furthermore, digital channels accounted for 92% of total retail payment transactions, up from 88% in FY25. Mobile phone-based solutions led digital transactions with over 11.1 billion transactions, registering a 79% growth, while internet banking portals processed 0.3 billion transactions, up 15% from the previous fiscal year.

The expansion of digital acceptance infrastructure at merchants/retailers’ outlets further supported this growth. The POS network expanded to 337,791 terminals across 295,367 merchant locations, supporting nearly 1.5 million daily card payments compared to 1 million in the previous fiscal year.

E-commerce payments also continued to gain traction, with account-based online payments accounting for 96% of total e-commerce transactions conducted through banking channels. Branchless banking mobile app users increased to 99.1 million, while banks’ mobile app users reached 30.4 million, highlighting the continued shift of everyday banking activities towards smartphone-based platforms.