The National Bank of Pakistan formalised a partnership with Istiqeme Partners on Wednesday to jointly expand Pakistan’s digital payments ecosystem, combining NBP’s nationwide branch network and government banking mandate with Istiqeme’s specialist capabilities in QR merchant onboarding, digital account opening, and Roshan Digital Account facilitation for overseas Pakistanis.
The collaboration advances NBP’s strategic objective of positioning itself as the primary driver of Pakistan’s transition to a cashless economy under the State Bank of Pakistan’s digital finance framework.
Istiqeme enables Pakistani citizens, merchants, and overseas Pakistanis to access secure digital financial services across Pakistan and globally. Its services span digital account opening for locals and overseas Pakistanis, QR payment onboarding for merchants — enabling instant acceptance with seamless setup and zero hardware cost — and support for banks and fintechs through trained, on-ground teams for merchant acquisition, digital onboarding, and customer support.
Istiqeme operates as a distribution and last-mile execution partner for banks — bridging the gap between banking infrastructure and the unbanked or underserved segments that formal branch networks struggle to reach cost-effectively. Its particular focus on the overseas Pakistani community through Roshan Digital Account facilitation aligns directly with NBP’s existing RDA offering and the government’s strategy to maximise remittance inflows through formal digital channels.
NBP’s asset base of $25.2 billion represents approximately 14% of Pakistan’s banking industry assets. The bank holds the highest credit rating of AAA/A1+ and operates 1,500+ domestic branches, 1,400+ ATMs, and a 750+ rural branch network.As a state-owned bank acting as agent for the State Bank of Pakistan in cities and towns where the SBP has no presence, NBP handles government treasury transactions, civil servant salary disbursements, and public pension payments — making its digital infrastructure upgrades directly relevant to the financial experience of millions of government beneficiaries.
NBP President and CEO Rehmat Ali Hasnie has consistently framed the bank’s digital strategy around financial inclusion rather than pure profit maximisation. In a recent statement he described NBP’s goal as positioning itself as “a bank open to all Pakistanis, irrespective of net worth,” targeting average citizens with tools for daily financial needs and business creation.
The NBP-Istiqeme collaboration is structured around three functional areas:
1. QR Merchant Payments Expansion
Pakistan is accelerating adoption of its national P2M (Person-to-Merchant) QR payment standard under SBP oversight, interoperable across all major banks and wallets via the Raast infrastructure. Across Asia, QR code-based payments are transforming the way small and large businesses accept money — from China and India’s massive networks to Indonesia’s 38 million QRIS merchants, the region is setting the pace for financial inclusion through low-cost, interoperable payment systems. Istiqeme’s on-ground merchant acquisition teams are specifically trained for rapid QR onboarding, allowing NBP to expand its merchant acceptance network in urban, semi-urban, and rural markets without proportionally scaling its own field force.
2. Digital Account Opening
NBP has already invested heavily in digital onboarding infrastructure. The NBP Digital app supports Raast payments, IBFT transfers, QR code generation, utility bills, and government payments. Fintech partnerships play a pivotal role in NBP’s digital transformation — the bank gets to fast-track innovation, realise operational efficiencies and enhance customer experience, while fintech participants gain regulatory experience, access to a large customer base, and market credibility. Istiqeme’s specialist onboarding capability extends NBP’s digital account reach beyond the existing app user base into communities where guided facilitation increases conversion.
3. Roshan Digital Account Facilitation for Overseas Pakistanis
Pakistan’s remittance inflows are expected to reach $41.5 billion in FY2025-26 — a record high driven partly by the fuel crisis forcing overseas workers to send more home. NBP’s Roshan Digital Account allows non-resident Pakistanis to open accounts entirely online in PKR, USD, GBP, EUR, AED, and SAR, with access to Naya Pakistan Certificates, T-bills/PIBs, real estate investment via Roshan Apna Ghar, PSX stock market access, and bill payment facilities. Istiqeme actively manages finance facilitation for overseas Pakistanis through Roshan Digital Account support, helping them manage finances from anywhere in the world. The partnership leverages Istiqeme’s diaspora community engagement capabilities to accelerate NBP RDA account openings from the GCC, UK, and North America — the three highest-remittance corridors.
This partnership arrives as Pakistan’s cashless economy push accelerates at both the policy and crisis-response levels. Pakistan’s digital payments infrastructure demonstrated its real-time capacity when Easypaisa disbursed Rs 1.2 billion to over 32,000 beneficiaries within a weekend under the PM Fuel Package 2026 — supporting operators of buses, trucks, long-haul vehicles, and delivery vans hit by fuel price surges.The government is scaling this model, treating digital payment rails as critical infrastructure for both commercial transactions and emergency disbursements.
SBP’s Raast instant payment system — whose P2P phase processed billions in transactions and is now expanding into P2M merchant payments — provides the interoperability backbone that makes partnerships like NBP-Istiqeme commercially viable at scale. NBP, as the nation’s largest state-owned bank and one of the largest issuers of Raast-linked accounts, has an outsized stake in P2M adoption given its concentration of rural and government-sector customers.
For small and medium merchants in Lahore, Karachi, Faisalabad, and beyond — particularly those outside formal commercial districts — Istiqeme’s zero-setup QR onboarding means digital payment acceptance without POS hardware costs. For overseas Pakistanis hesitant about direct bank engagement for RDA opening, Istiqeme’s facilitation layer reduces friction. For NBP’s existing account holders, expanded merchant acceptance translates to more places to spend digitally — reinforcing the virtuous cycle of adoption that Pakistan’s cashless economy drive depends on.