Qatar witnesses 66.19mn payment system transactions valued at QR20.09bn in Dec. 2025: QCB

20/01/2026 04:35 AST

Qatar saw a total of 66.19mn transactions valued at QR20.09bn through the country's payment system in December 2025 as the domestic real time payment service Fawran and QMP saw a robust double-digit growth in volumes and value, according to the Qatar Central Bank (QCB) data.

Indicating the increased use of electronic means in the financial sector, the number of transactions and total value grew 5.38% and 7.84% month-on-month respectively in December 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 49% of the payment system transaction in December 2025 (51% in November 2025), followed by Fawran or instant payment system at 25% (24%), e-commerce 24% (23%), and QMP at 2% (2%) in the review period.

There were 50.71mn card transactions through point-of-sales - which enables merchants to process payments and log transactions - valued at QR9.92bn in December 2025. The point-of-sales transactions increased 5.4% and 4.86% month-on-month in volume and value respectively.

The e-commerce transactions witnessed as many as 11.77mn transactions valued at QR4.74bn in the review period. The number of transactions and their total value jumped 2.88% and 8.97% respectively compared with November 2025.

The point-of-sales and e-commerce together amounted to QR14.67bn through 62.48mn transactions in December 2025, which showed 6.23% and 4.92% surge in value and volume 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 3.19mn transactions valued at QR5.09bn in December 2025, shooting up 13.12% and 12.36% month-on-month respectively.

The total number of Fawran accounts registered a 1.4% month-on-month growth to 3.61mn 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 521,567 transactions valued at QR329.96mn in December 2025. Total number of transactions and value zoomed 18.12% and 13.96% respectively against November 2025 levels.

There has been a total of 1.27mn registered wallets in the review period, registering a 2.42% 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.

Gulf Times