BUILDING TRUST IN RAAST MERCHANT PAYMENTS

Pakistan’s instant payment system, RAAST, can only scale if people believe their money is safe and problems are resolved quickly. This report sets out a practical blueprint to build and sustain trust in RAAST merchant payments, focusing on fraud prevention, clear liability, and robust recourse. Drawing on global experience from systems such as Pix, UPI, Faster Payments, PayNow, PromptPay, and M-Pesa, it highlights the specific risks facing Pakistan’s users and the policy and design responses that work.

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Building on earlier work on merchant adoption and pricing, this companion report zeroes in on trust: from zero-liability rules and standardized dispute timelines to centralized fraud intelligence, AI governance, and gender-intentional recourse. It offers a phased roadmap so that regulators, providers, and merchants can move together—protecting users, maintaining confidence, and ensuring that the shift away from cash does not leave anyone behind.

Who is this for?

Policymakers

A clear, phased roadmap to embed fraud safeguards, liability rules, and AI governance into RAAST—aligning Pakistan with global good practice while responding to local realities.

Providers (banks, PSPs, fintechs, aggregators)

Concrete guidance on fraud controls, recourse standards, and data sharing—so institutions can reduce losses, meet regulatory expectations, and design customer journeys that people trust.

Merchants and consumers (especially women and first-time digital users)

Stronger protections, clearer rights, and simpler, local-language recourse channels—so using RAAST for everyday payments feels safe, predictable, and worth sticking with.