SBP releases Raast access rules

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan released the Raast participation requirements for banking and non-banking entities on Friday to promote the digitisation of the economy and facilitate efficient, secure and near real-time payment transactions for individuals and companies.

Raast, Pakistan's instant payment system, enables rapid and secure digital fund transfers, addressing diverse payment needs of individuals, businesses and government departments through multiple applications, including bulk payments, person-to-person (P2P) transactions, person-to-merchant (P2M) payments and payment initiation service (PIS) transactions.

“In order to facilitate the applicants desirous of becoming Raast participants, SBP has decided to issue the Raast Participation Criteria", the central bank said in a circular, adding that this will "enhance the Raast accessibility for promoting digital payments and stimulate innovation and competition in the payments market".

According to the SBP, the following entities are eligible to apply for participation in Raast: banks, microfinance banks, non-bank financial institutions, federal or provincial governments and their departments, public sector organisations, private-sector corporations (including small and medium-sized enterprises), business platforms, payment aggregators, educational institutions, incubators, fintech companies, and any other service providers.

Entities that are currently undergoing the licensing process with the SBP and possess valid in-principle approval can also apply for Raast participation. Access to Raast will be categorised into four types of participants: direct settlement participants, direct non-settlement participants, payment initiation service providers, and indirect participants.