The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has awarded Raast Business API licenses to five fintech companies in what marks the first formal opening of Pakistan’s national instant payment infrastructure to the private sector for business-to-business (B2B) use cases. The development transforms Raast — previously limited to person-to-person transfers — into a full national payment rail accessible by enterprises.
The five licensed fintechs are: 1LINK, Finja, NayaPay, SadaPay Business, and PayFast — each receiving authorization to embed Raast payment initiation and collection APIs into their business banking products.
What Changes with the Raast Business API
Pakistan’s digital payments ecosystem has long been bifurcated: consumer payments (via JazzCash, Easypaisa, and bank apps using Raast P2P) moved into the digital age, while business payments remained stuck on NIFT cheque clearing and RTGS (Real Time Gross Settlement) — systems that operate on banking hours, have settlement delays of T+1 or longer, and require physical document trails.
The Raast Business API changes this fundamentally:
- Instant settlement: B2B payments settle in real-time, 24/7/365 — no banking hours, no next-day clearing
- Programmatic initiation: Businesses can initiate and collect payments directly from their ERP, accounting software, or custom applications via a REST API
- Bulk disbursements: Payroll, supplier payments, and vendor disbursements can be sent to thousands of recipients in a single API call
- Payment link generation: Businesses can generate Raast payment request links for invoices, shareable via WhatsApp or email
This directly builds on the infrastructure momentum established by the SBP Open Banking Framework and expands the utility of Raast’s digital payment ecosystem.
Technical Implementation for Enterprise Clients
For businesses integrating Raast Business APIs, the technical implementation follows a standard REST pattern with OAuth 2.0 authentication:
POST /api/v1/raast/payment-initiation
Authorization: Bearer {access_token}
Content-Type: application/json
{
"amount": 250000,
"currency": "PKR",
"debtor_iban": "PK36SCBL0000001123456702",
"creditor_iban": "PK70HABB0000000045678901",
"remittance_info": "Invoice #INV-2026-08-0142",
"end_to_end_id": "PAYFAST20260817001"
}The API returns a real-time payment confirmation with a Raast transaction reference number, providing immediate proof of payment suitable for automated reconciliation.
Implications for Pakistan’s Hosting and Cloud Sector
Businesses integrating Raast APIs will need to host their integration middleware and webhook endpoints on reliable, low-latency infrastructure. SBP’s technical guidelines specify that API endpoint response times must be under 3 seconds for payment confirmations — a requirement that necessitates professional server infrastructure, not shared hosting.
For fintech startups and enterprises building Raast integrations, dedicated VPS servers in Pakistan provide the necessary combination of static IP addresses (required for SBP API whitelisting), low latency to SBP’s payment infrastructure, and the compliance-grade uptime needed for financial transaction processing.
Market Impact: Formalizing the Supply Chain
Pakistan’s informal supply chain — where businesses pay suppliers in cash or via cheque specifically to avoid leaving a digital trail — has long been a challenge for both tax compliance and economic formalization. Instant, traceable B2B digital payments with real-time settlement remove the primary pain points that drove businesses toward cash.
Analysts at KPMG Pakistan estimate that if 30% of Pakistan’s B2B payment volume migrates to Raast over the next 3 years, it would add approximately $4-6 billion per year in traceable economic activity to Pakistan’s formal economy.
