Qatar records 59.95mn payment system transactions valued at QR18.47bn in October: QCB

18/11/2025 06:15 AST

Indicating the increased use of electronic means in the financial sector, Qatar saw a total of 59.95mn transactions valued at QR18.47bn through the country's payment system in October 2025 as the domestic real time payment service Fawran reported a robust double-digit growth in volumes and value, according to the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) data.

The number of transactions and total value grew 8.84% and 10.73% month-on-month respectively in October 2025, the QCB said in its social media handle X.

The Qatar Payment System (QPS) is designed on the concept of real-time gross settlement (RTGS) and electronic straight through processing (e-STP).

The point-of-sales constituted 50% of the payment system transaction, followed by e-commerce 25%, Fawran or instant payment system at 24% and QMP at 1% in the review period.

There were 46.03mn card transactions through point-of-sales - which enables merchants to process payments and log transactions - valued at QR9.19bn in October 2025. The card transactions increased 8.48% and 8.63% month-on-month in volume and value respectively.

The e-commerce transactions witnessed as many as 10.82mn transactions valued at QR4.44bn in the review period. The number of transactions and their total value jumped 7.23% and 4.96% respectively compared with September 2025.

The point-of-sales and e-commerce together amounted to QR13.63bn through 56.85mn transactions this October, which showed 8.24% and 7.41% surge in volume and value respectively on a monthly basis.

Fawran - a real-time payment service in Qatar, allowing users to send and receive money instantly and securely within the country - registered as many as 2.68mn transactions valued at QR4.56bn in October 2025, shooting up 21.27% and 23.58% month-on-month respectively.

The total number of Fawran accounts registered a 1.77% month-on-month growth to 3.45mn in the review period.

Fawran was launched in 2024 and system members are QNB, Commercial Bank, Qatar Islamic Bank, Ahli Bank, Dukhan Bank, Doha Bank, QIIB and AlRayan Bank.

QMP - which allows immediate transfer of funds between registered customers through any registered payment service providers - saw as many as 421,491 transactions valued at QR289.42mn in October 2025. While total number of transactions zoomed 17.26%, total value was down 1.77% against September 2025 levels.

There has been a total of 1.22mn registered wallets in the review period, registering a marginal 0.83% increase on a monthly basis.

The QMP is a centralised payment system that was launched in 2020, to enable individuals and corporates to perform instant fund transfers between e-wallets within payment service providers in Qatar.

The system members are QNB, Commercial Bank, Doha Bank, Qatar Islamic Bank, Ahli Bank, QIIB, Arab Bank, HSBC Qatar, AlRayan Bank, Dukhan Bank, i-pay and Ooredoo Money.

The QPS is based on the SWIFT network and messages standards and utilises the SWIFT messages to reconcile and settle the local payments and securities ownership transfers.

Qatar's retail payment system comprise electronic cheque clearing system; national network system for ATMS and Points of Sales (NAPS); QMP; direct deposit and debit (QATCH); electronic payment gateway (QPay); wage protection system (WPS); and Fawran.