KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has introduced Person-to-Person (P2P) fund transfers in the country through the SBP developed Raast, a statement said on Thursday.
Raast offers an instant, reliable and zero-cost digital payment system to the people of Pakistan, it added.
The launch of Raast P2P service will not only provide a convenient and hassle free digital fund transfer service to the customers but will also provide an efficient and enabling payments infrastructure that would pave the way for digitisation of the economy and promotion of digital financial services in the country.
An explanatory video on YouTube and SBP’s website has been provided explaining how to make payments and transfer funds using Raast.
Under Raast P2P fund transfers and settlement services, bank customers would be able to send and receive funds in their accounts using their bank’s mobile application, internet banking or over the counter services.
The customers can set their registered mobile phone number as their Raast ID and link it to their preferred International Bank Account Number (IBAN) using the bank’s mobile application, internet banking, or visiting their bank branch.
Once a customer has set her or his mobile phone number as the Raast ID, others can send money to their mobile phone number without the need to know the account number or any other details.
Bank customers can still use Raast service for sending or receiving funds using their IBANs even if they do not have a Raast ID or prefer to use their IBAN.
The SBP has directed all banks to make Raast P2P fund transfer service available on at least three customer channels including mobile application, internet banking and branch counters.
The Central Bank has directed banks to ensure that funds successfully transferred through Raast should be credited into the recipients’ accounts within 20 seconds of receiving the credit advice from the Raast system.
In order to promote the use of digital financial services in the country, banks have been advised not to levy any charges on Raast related services and all transactions conducted through Raast would be free for end customers.
The Central Bank will offer free of cost Raast services to banks. Further, to facilitate their customers, banks will not assign minimum transaction size. In general, banks will allow maximum transaction limits of Rs200,000 per transaction or higher depending on the bank’s assessment of the risk profile of the customer.
For particular account types where the SBP has prescribed limits from time to time, the maximum transaction limit could be lower than Rs200,000 per transaction.
Raast is being developed in collaboration with Karandaaz, Pakistan and introduced in phases. The first phase of Raast, Bulk Payments, was launched by the Prime Minister in January 2021.
With the launch of Raast, Pakistan joined a select club of countries who have either launched or are in the process of launching Instant Payment Systems. Raast is fully owned and operated by the State Bank of Pakistan.
