SBP launches PRISM plus

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) announced the launch of the Pakistan Real-Time Interbank Settlement Mechanism Plus (PRISM+) on Wednesday, aimed at enhancing transparency, interoperability and automation across the payment and settlement ecosystem.

“As envisaged in its Vision 2028, the SBP is launching the Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and Central Securities Depository (CSD) system, PRISM+, effective June 16, 2025. The completion of this strategic project substantially upgrades the National Digital Payments Infrastructure,” the SBP said in a circular.

“PRISM+ is built on the ISO 20022 financial messaging standard, which supports structured and data-rich financial communication, enabling enhanced transparency, interoperability and automation across the payment and settlement ecosystem,” it said.

“It includes new features for liquidity management, transaction queuing and prioritisation, and scheduling of future-dated payments,” it added.

According to the SBP, the system offers customizable dashboards, alerts, query tools and downloadable settlement position statements using a web-based module for real-time initiation, monitoring, and approval of transactions.

The new system also provides a central securities depository (CSD) platform for money market operations such as auction of government securities, sale and purchase of securities in the secondary market, collateral management and open market operations.

The SBP said that for settlement purposes, transitory accounts have been opened in the new system. At the start of each business day, the system will transfer 80 per cent of balances from the participants’ current account held with SBP BSC (Karachi) to their respective transitory accounts.

To facilitate participants in managing their day-to-day liquidity, they will be able to transfer funds between their current and transitory accounts at any time during business hours. Participants can also allocate funds for ancillary clearing needs (eg, Raast, NIFT, and 1Link). Accordingly, to mitigate systemic risks, participants are advised to maintain sufficient funds for their settlement needs on a proactive basis.

“Participants are also advised to ensure operational readiness for performing their Straight-Through Processing (STP) via PRISM+ through either the APIs or the file adapters facility offered by the system,” the circular said.

“All participants are advised to use Raast over-the-counter (OTC) facility for branch initiated customer transactions that are presently being transferred using RTGS. Accordingly, all participants shall replace the RTGS OTC facility with Raast OTC in all their branches by September 30, 2025,” it added.

The SBP advised banks to review and align their operational processes and frameworks to ensure seamless and efficient integration and adoption of the new system.