Small businesses in Pakistan to go digital

KARACHI: The state-owned National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) has received approval to commence Raast P2M (Person-to-Merchant) acquiring, a move set to strengthen the “Cashless Pakistan” vision as well as help small businesses towards digital banking. ARY News reported.

The NBP secured this approval through the cooperation of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and Raast Payments Pakistan.

With this milestone, the NBP has made significant progress toward its digital banking strategy.

To promote the initiative, the NBP will launch a nationwide awareness campaign for digital payments.

Through Raast P2M, acquiring businesses and customers will gain access to modern payment facilities.

The service is also designed to extend digital financial services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and underprivileged segments of society.

Furthermore, the NBP intends to broaden its digital acquiring network.

The approval was granted during a high-level meeting between SBP and NBP officials; the NBP was represented by Adnan Nasir, Zohaib Ali Khan, and Muhammad Amad Uddin.

The NBP reiterated its commitment to promoting a cashless economy and announced plans to extend further cooperation to FinTech partners and the business community.

Earlier, in February this year, NBP achieved a record-breaking profit of Rs 85.9 billion in the year 2025, Following this massive profit, the state-owned bank announced a staggering 350% dividend (Rs 35 per share) for its shareholders.

The NBP disclosed that its profit before tax reached Rs 178.9 billion, representing a 216% increase compared to the previous year.

The bank’s total earnings jumped to Rs 311.7 billion, marking a growth of 31.9%. Meanwhile, its Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) remained strong at 26.21%.

NBP further reported that its Islamic banking assets rose to a whopping Rs 651.9 billion, following a staggering growth of 95.5%.

Additionally, the bank contributed Rs 93 billion in taxes to the national exchequer for the year 2025.