Raast (; ) is an

instant In physics and the philosophy of science, instant refers to an infinitesimal interval in time, whose passage is instantaneous. In ordinary speech, an instant has been defined as "a point or very short space of time," a notion deriving from its etym ...

payment system A payment system is any system used to settle financial transactions through the transfer of monetary value. This includes the institutions, payment instruments such as payment cards, people, rules, procedures, standards, and technologies that ...

developed by the

State Bank of Pakistan The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is the central bank of Pakistan. Its Constitution, as originally laid down in the State Bank of Pakistan Order 1948, remained basically unchanged until 1 January 1974, when the bank was nationalised and the scope ...

(SBP). It operates using the state-of-the-art Pakistan Faster Payment System (PFPS), facilitating real-time settlement of small-value retail payments, including inter-bank

peer-to-peer Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network, forming a peer-to-peer network of Node ...

(P2P) and person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions. It also enables digital payments between banks, businesses, and individuals, offering a free, fast, and reliable person-to-person (P2P) service within Pakistan. Users can conveniently send or receive money using Raast IDs, which are linked to their mobile numbers and bank accounts, making the process seamless and cost-free.

History

Raast was launched by then Prime Minister

Imran Khan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi (born 5 October 1952) is a Pakistani politician, philanthropist, and former cricketer who served as the 19th prime minister of Pakistan from August 2018 until April 2022. He was the founder of the political party Pak ...

on 11 January 2021. Raast is an initiative led by the

, that received backing from the

Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation The Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be List of wealthiest charitable foundations, the third largest char ...

and Karandaaz Pakistan. It was developed with

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

assistance. Raast began its development in 2018. Bulk/Batch payments (e.g., dividend disbursements from the SBP CDC) went live in January 2021. Raast

was launched in February 2022 to enable person-to-person transactions and facilitate free digital banking. By the first quarter of FY 2025, Raast platform was being used to settle transactions worth , with Rs. 4.69 trillion of it being peer-to-peer transfers, up from just at the end of FY 2022.

References

{{Banking in Pakistan 2021 establishments in Pakistan Payment interchange standards Interbank networks State Bank of Pakistan Banking in Pakistan Mobile payments

History

See also

References