Launch of the Pakistan Real-Time Interbank Settlement Mechanism Plus (PRISM+)

DI&SD Circular No 01 — June 11, 2025

The Presidents/Chief Executive Officers

All RTGS Participants

Dear Madam/Sir,

Launch of the Pakistan Real-Time Interbank Settlement Mechanism Plus (PRISM+)

1. As envisaged in its Vision 2028, SBP is launching the Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and Central Securities Depository (CSD) system, PRISM+ w.e.f. June 16, 2025. The completion of this strategic project substantially upgrades the National Digital Payments Infrastructure.
2. PRISM+ is built on the ISO 20022 financial messaging standard which supports structured and data-rich financial communication, enabling enhanced transparency, interoperability, and automation across the payment and settlement ecosystem. It includes new features for liquidity management, transaction queuing and prioritization, and scheduling of future dated payments. The system offers customizable dashboards, alerts, query tools, and downloadable settlement position statements using a web based module for real time initiation, monitoring, and approval of transactions. The new system also provides a Central Securities Depository (CSD) platform for money market operations such as auction of government securities, sale and purchase of securities in the secondary market, collateral management and open market operations. Detailed features of PRISM+ are given in Annexure.
3. For settlement purposes, Transitory Accounts have been opened in the new system. At the start of each business day, the system will transfer 80% of balances from the Participants’ Current Account held with SBP BSC (Karachi) to their respective Transitory Accounts. To facilitate participants in managing their day-to-day liquidity, they will be able to transfer funds between their Current and Transitory Accounts at any time during business hours. Participants can also allocate funds for ancillary clearings needs (e.g., Raast, NIFT, and 1Link). Accordingly, to mitigate systemic risks, participants are advised to maintain sufficient funds for their settlement needs on proactive basis.
4. Participants are also advised to ensure operational readiness for performing their Straight-Through Processing (STP) via PRISM+ through either the APIs or file adapters facility offered by the system. In order to facilitate the smooth transition of STP systems to the new MX format, PRISM+ will support both MT and the new MX (ISO 20022 XML) message formats up to September 30, 2025. Accordingly, the use of native MT/MX converter facility will be discontinued w.e.f. October 1, 2025.
5. All participants are advised to use Raast Over-the-Counter (OTC) facility for branch initiated customer transactions that are presently being transferred using RTGS. Accordingly, all participants shall replace the RTGS OTC facility with Raast OTC in all their branches by September 30, 2025.
6. Participants are advised to review and align their operational processes and frameworks to ensure seamless and efficient integration and adoption of the new system.
7. Furthermore, it is advised to retain historical data of all transactions processed through PRISM+ and ensure its availability as and when required.
8. Participants shall ensure that all communications pertaining to the system including technical documentation, user manuals, system advisories, and operational updates conveyed through PRISM+ Broadcast are implemented in a timely manner.
9. For facilitating smooth transition to the new system, a dedicated helpdesk has been established at SBP. Participants are encouraged to contact the helpdesk via email at prismplus@sbp.org.pk or by phone at 021-3311-3402/3416/3410/3416/3497 during PRISM+ operating hours for reporting issues or seeking any clarifications.
10. Please ensure compliance with the above instructions. Non-compliance may lead to restrictions or suspension of system access, and may attract regulatory action as deemed appropriate.
11. All other instructions shall remain unchanged.
12. Please acknowledge receipt.

Enclosed:

• Annexure

Yours sincerely,

Muhammad Imaduddin
Director

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Annexure to DI&SD Circular No. 1 of 2025 June 11, 2025 Features of PRISM+
1) The PRISM+ offers customizable dashboards, alerts, query tools, and downloadable settlement
position statements.
2) The system supports the following functionalities for efficient transaction execution and
monitoring:
 High-value interbank funds transfers with immediate settlement finality.
 Scheduling of future-dated payments, allowing institutions to manage liquidity with precision.
 Transaction queuing and prioritization, supporting time-critical payment execution.
 Real-time monitoring of balances, payment queues, and settlement positions.
 Automated billing and fee calculation, with downloadable invoices and billing logs.
3) The Central Securities Depository (CSD) module of the system provides the following
functionalities:
 Auction Module for conducting primary market auctions of government securities, enabling:
o Submission of competitive and non-competitive bids. o Real-time bid validation and allocation.
 Secondary Market Trading Module, enabling:
o Submission of trade instructions. o Matching and settlement of securities transactions between counterparties.
 Collateral Management System, supporting:
o Mark-to-Market (M2M) valuation of pledged securities. o Application of regulatory haircuts based on asset risk classification. o Tracking of available, pledged, and eligible collateral.  Open Market Operations (OMO) Module, enabling:
o Liquidity injection and mop-up operations. o Allocation of securities against central bank repo/reverse repo transactions. o Settlement of OMO transactions.
4) The system also ensures:
 End-to-end audit trail for each transaction,  Role-based access control to strengthen the security, and  Real-time alerts for settlement failures. Operating Mechanism Liquidity Saving Mechanism (LSM) Queues To enhance liquidity efficiency and reduce payment gridlocks, the new system introduces multiple settlement queues in addition to the main queue. Transactions will now be routed based on their priority and batch frequency. Participants are expected to utilize LSM Queues 1 and 2 for lower￾priority payments, which will be settled in batches with gridlock resolution, while high-priority

Annexure to DI&SD Circular No. 1 of 2025 June 11, 2025 payments continue through the main queue. Participants are advised to utilize this functionality to ensure optimal liquidity management and system-wide settlement efficiency. Reserve Placement and Earmarking Participants now have the ability to earmark reserves for specific use cases e.g. 1Link, Raast, NIFT and NCCPL through configurable reserve pools. All participants must activate and manage these reserve settings within their settlement accounts to ensure that critical transactions do not compete with general liquidity and that settlement efficiency is preserved across all RTGS functions. ILF via CSD Nominated Pools The new system enables automatic Intraday Liquidity Facility (ILF) provisioning through nominated securities in the CSD. Participants will pre-assign eligible securities to the ILF pool to ensure liquidity access. This feature is critical for ancillary settlement systems, trade execution, and real-time liquidity shortfalls. Additional Functionalities in Scope The new RTGS platform includes enhancements such as extended operating hours, real-time payment cancellation, return message support (Request for Return/Return), and optional cash deposit/withdrawal from Karachi Office. Participants must familiarize themselves with these improvements and update their internal processes accordingly to benefit from the platform’s expanded operational scope and flexibility.