Roadmap for major payment platforms in Pakistan

Pakistan's payment platform development roadmap reflects the rapid evolution of its fintech ecosystem, driven largely by mobile internet penetration, government policy push and growing demand from a young population. Key development stages and future trends are analysed below:

1. Early stage (before 2010)

  • Traditional bank-led: The cash economy is predominant and electronic payments are limited to bank net banking and ATMs.
  • budding period (i.e. when sth. is in the bud): A small number of international payment gateways (e.g. 2Checkout) serve businesses for cross-border transactions.

2. Infrastructure foundation period (2010-2016)

  • policy impetus::
    • The Central Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has introduced the Payment Systems and Electronic Money Institutions Regulations (PSO/EMI Framework) to provide licences for non-banking institutions.
    • 'Financial Inclusion Strategy' launched, targeting to increase adult account holdings from 161 TP3T (2015) to 501 TP3T.
  • technological penetration::
    • 3G/4G licences were issued (2014) and mobile internet users exceeded 40 million.
    • Easypaisa (launched by Telenor in 2009) and JazzCash (launched by Mobilink) became the first mobile wallets.

3. Period of rapid growth (2017-2021)

  • Digital payments explode::
    • SBP launches 'Raast' instant payment system (2021) for real-time interbank clearing.
        → case (law): Raast's average daily transaction volume reaches 1 million by 2023.
       

4. Period of ecological expansion and innovation (2022-2025)

  • Diversification of payment platforms::

    • Local giants dominate: Easypaisa and JazzCash have consolidated their market position with a combined user base of over 40 million (30%+ of the adult population), supporting a full range of scenarios such as bill payments, remittances, and merchant collections.
      Technology upgrades: Introduction of biometrics (e.g. fingerprint/face verification) and AI anti-fraud systems.
    • Entry of the banking system: UBL Omni, HBL Konnect, etc. sink into rural areas through correspondent banking networks.

  • Cross-border and e-commerce driven::

    • Alipay+ access to Pakistani merchants (2023) to support payments for Chinese tourists; local platforms start interfacing with crypto gateways such as Binance to try out compliant P2P transactions.
    • Shopify localisation drives small and medium merchants to accept JazzCash online payments, e-commerce penetration rises to 5% (Karandaaz data).

  • Key policy nodes::

    • SBP makes it mandatory for all EMI organisations to have access to Raast (2024 target), reducing the cost of cross-platform transfers to near zero.

5. Future trends (2026-2030)

(1) Super App Integration War

It is expected that Easypaisa/JazzCash will be transformed into a "financial super-app", integrating the following services:
|Functions|Cases|
|—|—|
|Credit|Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) Partnership Daraz|
|Insurance|Takaful (Islamic Insurance) embedded in taxi app InDrive|
|Investment |Particle Investment(P2P Lending Platform)|

(2) CBDC test

Pakistan's central bank has launched a sandbox test of the digital rupee (Rupee-DLT), which may be prioritised for B2G subsidy disbursement - drawing on India's digital rupee experience.

(3) Regulatory deep-water challenges

Balance required.
✅ Financial inclusion target (100 million people are still unbanked)
❌ Preventing excessive cash digitisation leading to grey economy exposure shocks to stability

Critical success factors

  1. Telecommunications infrastructure coverage: Jazz parent company Veon Group plans to spend $2bn on upgrading its 4G+/5G network.
  2. Agent network density: Easypaisa has 180,000 agents vs. only 16,000 bank branches nationwide.
  3. Women's economy:: World Bank says boosting women's account holdings could lead to $20bn incremental GDP - UBL launches women-only agent point 'Humsafar'.