The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) is preparing to officially launch PRISM+, a state-of-the-art Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and Central Securities Depository (CSD) system, across the country starting June 16, 2025. This marks a major leap in modernizing the national financial infrastructure, aligning with the SBP’s Vision 2028 for a digitized, efficient, and secure payments ecosystem.
PRISM+ is a significant upgrade to the current system, introducing advanced features and international standards to improve the efficiency, speed, and reliability of interbank transactions. Built on the ISO 20022 financial messaging standard, PRISM+ will enable structured, data-rich communication across financial institutions. The new standard allows for enhanced interoperability, automation, and transparency, thereby reducing friction and risk in the financial system.
To support this transition, Transitory Accounts have been created for all participating institutions. Each business day will begin with 80% of the balance from participants’ Current Accounts at SBP BSC (Karachi) being transferred to their respective Transitory Accounts in the PRISM+ system. Participants will retain full flexibility to transfer funds between their Current and Transitory Accounts throughout the business day, supporting better liquidity management.
Financial institutions will also be able to allocate funds for ancillary clearing services such as Raast, NIFT, and 1Link through this system. The SBP has advised participants to proactively manage liquidity and ensure adequate funds are available to meet settlement obligations, thereby mitigating potential systemic risks.
Operational readiness is a key focus area for the rollout. Financial institutions are required to ensure their systems are capable of Straight-Through Processing (STP) using either APIs or file adapters provided by PRISM+. To ease the transition, PRISM+ will support both legacy MT and the new MX (ISO 20022 XML) message formats until September 30, 2025. After that date, the native MT/MX converter facility will be discontinued, and full migration to the MX format will be mandatory starting October 1, 2025.
Additionally, branch-based transactions that were previously processed through RTGS Over-the-Counter (OTC) must now transition to the Raast OTC facility. All financial institutions are expected to complete this migration across their branch networks by September 30, 2025. This shift supports greater integration with Pakistan’s national instant payment system, Raast, and strengthens the broader digital payments framework.
The SBP has emphasized the importance of data retention and transparency under PRISM+. All transaction records processed through the new system must be preserved and made accessible upon request. Moreover, financial institutions must closely follow all operational updates, advisories, and technical documentation disseminated through the PRISM+ Broadcast feature to ensure seamless implementation.
As the SBP moves to implement PRISM+, the financial sector is set to benefit from a more robust, flexible, and future-ready infrastructure. The launch is a pivotal step toward accelerating Pakistan’s fintech growth and embedding global best practices into the country’s financial landscape.
