Sending money from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan: the payments stack
Sending SAR 750 from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan cost 5.02% of the amount on average in Q3 2025, across 12 services in the World Bank's Remittance Prices Worldwide survey. Payouts in Pakistan typically run over Raast, PRISM+ (RTGS); between now and the end of 2027 there are 5 weekdays when banks in Saudi Arabia are closed but Pakistan keeps paying out, so the payout balance has to be funded before them.
| Average cost to send | 5.02% of SAR 750 (Q3 2025, World Bank RPW) source |
| Money transfer operators | 2.85% across 9 services |
| Banks | 11.51% across 3 services |
| Collect in Saudi Arabia | sarie (Instant Payment System), SARIE (Saudi Arabian Riyal Interbank Express, RTGS) |
| Pay out in Pakistan | Raast, PRISM+ (RTGS) |
What it costs to send SAR 750
The World Bank surveyed 12 services sending from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan from 21 August 2025 to 2 September 2025. The average total cost, fees plus the FX margin, was 5.02% of the amount sent; money transfer operators averaged 2.85% and banks 11.51%. source
Bank and operator averages are worked out from the survey's provider types.
The send side: Saudi Arabia
- No person can operate a payment system or provide payment services in the Kingdom without a SAMA licence (Law of Payments and Payment Services, Royal Decree M/26, Article 4). source
- The Implementing Regulations (13 June 2023) apply to anyone providing payment services from an establishment in the Kingdom, holding itself out as providing them there, or inviting, inducing or marketing to persons in the Kingdom. source
- A Micro PI must not provide payment services cross-border to persons outside the Kingdom and must stay under an average monthly payment value of SAR 10 million; a provider above SAR 10 million a month is a Major PI (Article 42). Money remittance, where funds are received without a payment account being created, is listed among the services that do not constitute payment services (Article 7). source
Licences, sponsor banks, collections, ramps and KYC providers: sending from Saudi Arabia.
The payout side: Pakistan
| Payout partner | What it does in Pakistan | Source |
|---|---|---|
| dLocal · our guide | Payouts V3 pays out in Pakistan to bank accounts (bank code and IBAN) and, as instant payments, to mobile wallets including Easypaisa, JazzCash, NayaPay and SadaPay, for B2C, B2B and P2P flows. | source |
| TerraPay · our guide | Its network page lists Pakistan as a receive market with PKR payouts to both wallets and bank accounts. | source |
| Thunes · our guide | Its money transfer API supports PKR direct bank transfers to Pakistan over IBFT and RTGS. | source |
| Nium · our guide | Pays PKR to all banks in Pakistan in real time 24x7 for amounts up to PKR 1 million (same day above that, subject to a 16:00 local cut-off) and to JazzCash, Easypaisa and SadaPay wallets in real time, up to PKR 50,000 per wallet payout. | source |
| JazzCash | Mobile wallet that receives international remittances sent through exchange houses or partner apps directly into the JazzCash account, with funds typically credited instantly. | source |
| Easypaisa | Mobile wallet endpoint: funds from abroad reach easypaisa accounts through Bank Alfalah's international remittance partners. | source |
Licensing, local banks, stablecoin ramps, FX and KYC in Pakistan: launching payments in Pakistan.
Payout rails in Pakistan
| Rail | Operator | What matters for payouts | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Raast | Raast Payments Pakistan (Private) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the State Bank of Pakistan | Pakistan's instant payment system for low-value retail payments with instant settlement, open to commercial banks, microfinance banks, government entities and regulated fintechs (EMIs and PSPs) for always-on payment services. | source |
| PRISM+ (RTGS) | State Bank of Pakistan | Large-value real-time gross settlement system, upgraded to the ISO 20022 standard as PRISM+, which went live on 16 June 2025 and was formally launched on 19 August 2025; it settled 6.3 million transactions worth PKR 1,566 trillion in FY26. | source |
Holiday gaps to plan for, to December 2027
Weekdays when one side of the corridor is closed. On the 5 dates when Saudi Arabia is closed and Pakistan is open, the payout balance has to already hold enough to cover them. On the 11 dates when Pakistan is closed, instant rails may still pay out.
| Date | Saudi Arabia | Pakistan | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 9 Nov 2026 | Open | Allama Iqbal Day | Pakistan banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Fri 25 Dec 2026 | Open | Quaid-e-Azam Day / Christmas | Pakistan banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Fri 1 Jan 2027 | Open | Bank holiday (closed for public dealing) | Pakistan banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Fri 5 Feb 2027 | Open | Kashmir Solidarity Day | Pakistan banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Mon 22 Feb 2027 | Founding Day | Open | Prefund Pakistan the day before: no funding from Saudi Arabia, payouts continue |
| Mon 8 Mar 2027 | Eid al-Fitr holiday for financial institutions (29 Ramadan) | Open | Prefund Pakistan the day before: no funding from Saudi Arabia, payouts continue |
| Tue 9 Mar 2027 | Eid al-Fitr (1 Shawwal) | Open | Prefund Pakistan the day before: no funding from Saudi Arabia, payouts continue |
| Wed 10 Mar 2027 | Eid al-Fitr (2 Shawwal) | Eid-ul-Fitr (day 1) | Both closed |
| Thu 11 Mar 2027 | Eid al-Fitr holiday for financial institutions (3 Shawwal) | Eid-ul-Fitr (day 2) | Both closed |
| Fri 12 Mar 2027 | Open | Eid-ul-Fitr (day 3) | Pakistan banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Tue 23 Mar 2027 | Open | Pakistan Day | Pakistan banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Mon 17 May 2027 | Eid al-Adha (11 Dhu al-Hijjah) | Eid-ul-Azha (day 1) | Both closed |
| Tue 18 May 2027 | Eid al-Adha (12 Dhu al-Hijjah) | Eid-ul-Azha (day 2) | Both closed |
| Wed 19 May 2027 | Eid al-Adha holiday for financial institutions (13 Dhu al-Hijjah) | Eid-ul-Azha (day 3) | Both closed |
| Thu 20 May 2027 | Eid al-Adha holiday for financial institutions (14 Dhu al-Hijjah) | Open | Prefund Pakistan the day before: no funding from Saudi Arabia, payouts continue |
| Fri 28 May 2027 | Open | Youm-e-Takbeer | Pakistan banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Mon 14 Jun 2027 | Open | Ashura (9 Muharram) | Pakistan banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Tue 15 Jun 2027 | Open | Ashura (10 Muharram) | Pakistan banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Thu 1 Jul 2027 | Open | Bank holiday (closed for public dealing) | Pakistan banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
| Thu 23 Sep 2027 | Saudi National Day | Open | Prefund Pakistan the day before: no funding from Saudi Arabia, payouts continue |
| Tue 9 Nov 2027 | Open | Allama Iqbal Day | Pakistan banks closed: only always-on rails pay out |
Full calendars: Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Size the buffer with the corridor runway calculator.
Funding the corridor
- Official working days for ministries, financial institutions, SAMA and the stock exchange are Sunday to Thursday, with Friday and Saturday as the weekly holiday (Royal Order of June 2013). source
- Bank remittance centres work Sunday to Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; Friday is a weekly holiday and Saturday is an optional working day for branches with SAMA's no-objection. source
- Where the beneficiary banks elsewhere, the bank receiving a home remittance must pass the funds to the beneficiary's bank within 24 hours of receipt at most, and that bank credits the account instantly; pay orders and demand drafts go out within 24 hours and cash over the counter is available instantly. A late credit entitles the beneficiary to 65 paisa per thousand rupees for each day of delay. source
- SBP and the Pakistan Remittance Initiative run a dedicated 'PRI Channel' built on direct bilateral arrangements between domestic and international financial institutions, a pre-funding requirement, API system-to-system integration and Pakistan's national payment infrastructure; banks, microfinance banks, exchange companies and branchless banking wallets can receive home remittances. source
- PRISM+, Pakistan's RTGS, runs only within SBP-designated business-day periods and cut-offs, and Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays notified by SBP are ordinarily non-business days. Since 30 September 2025 SBP has required banks to send branch-initiated customer transfers through Raast OTC instead of RTGS, and Raast is built for always-on retail payments. source
Running the corridor
Polynopsis shows every balance on both sides of this corridor in one live position: the collection accounts in Saudi Arabia, the payout partners and banks in Pakistan and any stablecoin in between. It warns before the Pakistan balance runs dry, holidays included. See how it works.
Frequently asked questions
How much does it cost to send money from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan?
The World Bank's survey put the average total cost of sending SAR 750 at 5.02% in Q3 2025, across 12 services. Money transfer operators averaged 2.85%.
Which rails pay out in Pakistan?
Local payouts run over Raast, PRISM+ (RTGS).
When do I need to prefund Pakistan payouts ahead of holidays?
Between now and December 2027 there are 5 weekdays when Saudi Arabia is closed and Pakistan is open, the first on Mon 22 Feb 2027. The payout balance has to cover those days before they start.
Related corridors
Sources
- World Bank, Remittance Prices Worldwide dataset · World Bank
- Holidays and Working Hours (financial institutions and RTGS, 1447H to 1450H) · Saudi Central Bank
- SAMA announces official holidays and working hours for banks and RTGS until 2029 · Saudi Gazette
- Public holidays in Pakistan 2026 revealed (Cabinet Division notification) · Daily Pakistan
- PSX notice PSX/N-89: holidays for 2026 · Pakistan Stock Exchange
Know where all your money is.
Polynopsis gives cross-border payment teams one live position across every bank, payout partner, exchange and wallet, including money in flight, and warns before a corridor runs dry.
About Polynopsis
Polynopsis is liquidity management software for cross-border payment companies. The name joins poly, many, and synopsis, a seeing together: one live view of money spread across many banks, payout partners, exchanges and stablecoin wallets, including money in flight, with a warning before any corridor runs dry.
Why it is called Polynopsis · About Polynopsis · Glossary · Corridor runway calculator