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In a strongly worded session, the Senate Standing Committee on Finance raised serious concerns over the weak adoption of Pakistan’s local PayPak debit card, accusing banks and the SBP of failing to enforce its promotion despite clear regulatory directives.
The Senate Standing Committee on Finance sharply criticized the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and commercial banks on Tuesday over the continued failure to promote the local PayPak debit card, despite repeated regulatory directives.
During the briefing, officials revealed that Pakistan currently has 53 million debit cards and over 2 million credit cards, yet PayPak has secured only a 26% market share far below expectations.
Committee members expressed alarm that PayPak, which carries zero transaction fees, is being sidelined in favor of Visa and MasterCard. This preference, senators noted, resulted in nearly $200 million in fees flowing out of Pakistan last year.
Data shared with the committee showed that more than 514 million transactions were made through Visa/MasterCard during the previous year, including 94 million international transactions, underlining the continued dominance of foreign payment networks.
Lawmakers also lashed out at private educational institutions for refusing to accept PayPak cards and forcing parents to rely on Visa and MasterCard for school fee payments. Accusing commercial banks of deliberately undermining the local card scheme, the committee called for action against banks failing to comply with SBP’s directions regarding PayPak promotion.
Chairman Senator Saleem Mandviwalla added a candid remark:
“Most parliamentarians and journalists themselves don’t even have PayPak cards,” highlighting the lack of adoption even among the country’s opinion leaders.
The committee urged immediate steps to strengthen Pakistan’s domestic payments ecosystem and reduce dependence on costly international card networks.
