Raast is SBP's real-time interbank payment system — payments complete in under 60 seconds, 24/7 including holidays, at no charge; participants set a Raast ID (usually their mobile number) that others use to send money without sharing the full IBAN.
What Raast Is and Who Participates
Raast is the State Bank of Pakistan's national instant payment system — it enables real-time, 24/7 bank-to-bank transfers that complete in under 60 seconds. Raast uses IBAN or a Raast ID (typically your mobile number linked to your bank account) for routing between accounts. Participating banks include HBL, MCB, UBL, Meezan Bank, Bank Alfalah, Allied Bank, Bank of Punjab, and a growing number of others. JazzCash and Easypaisa wallets have also integrated Raast for outbound transfers.
Enable Your Raast ID
Log into your bank's mobile app and look for Raast or Instant Transfer settings. Enable your Raast ID — this is typically your mobile number linked to your bank account. Once enabled, anyone who knows your mobile number can send you money instantly through Raast without needing your full 24-digit IBAN. This makes sharing your payment details much simpler and reduces the risk of errors from long account numbers.
Send a Raast Payment
In your bank app, select Raast Transfer or Instant Transfer. Enter the recipient's Raast ID (mobile number) or full IBAN. Enter the amount. Authenticate with your bank's method (PIN, biometric, or OTP). The recipient's account is credited in under 60 seconds. Both parties receive instant push notifications or SMS confirmations. Raast is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week — including Friday afternoons, public holidays, and weekends.
Raast for Business Bulk Payments
For businesses needing to pay salaries, vendor payments, or other large batches simultaneously, Raast supports bulk payment processing through the corporate banking interface. All individual transfers in the batch process in real-time. Contact your corporate banking relationship manager for bulk Raast integration options and the technical specifications for your payroll or ERP system.
Transaction and Account Problems
Check for app updates — Raast may have been added in a recent version. If still absent after updating, contact your bank to confirm whether Raast is enabled for your specific account type and to request activation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes — Raast operates 24/7/365. Transfers initiated at any time including Friday afternoon, Saturday, Sunday, or during any public holiday complete in real-time without any batch processing delays.
Yes — Raast is fully interoperable across all participating banks. A transfer from HBL to Meezan to MCB all complete in real-time through the SBP's central Raast infrastructure.
No — they're different interbank systems. 1Link is Pakistan's older payment switch using batch processing — transfers take hours. Raast is SBP's newer instant payment rail using real-time processing — transfers complete in seconds. Most Pakistani banks now support both, and they use Raast for Raast-enabled recipients and 1Link as a fallback. Raast is newer, faster, and the preferred system for person-to-person transfers.
Your Raast ID is typically your mobile number linked to your bank account — you choose it during Raast registration through your bank's app. It's shareable: you give it to people who want to send you money instead of sharing your full 24-digit IBAN. There's no security risk in sharing your Raast ID — it's designed to be a publicly shareable payment address, similar to a PayID or UPI VPA.
If a bank shows Raast but transfers still batch, the recipient bank may not be fully Raast-integrated for incoming transfers. Both sender and receiver banks need Raast integration for instant clearing — if only the sender is integrated, the transfer falls back to 1Link processing. Check whether the receiving bank appears on SBP's published list of Raast-participating banks.