Standard Chartered announced on Friday night that its credit card services across Pakistan will be temporarily unavailable due to system maintenance. Clients received the following notice:
The outage affects all credit card-related features, including transactions, statements, and online card management, all over Pakistan. Customers are advised to plan any essential card usage around the downtime period.
What’s happening now is not unique to Standard Chartered. In Pakistan, and indeed across the region, banks frequently take their digital card and internet banking systems offline for scheduled upgrades and maintenance. It is not limited to Pakistan either.
For instance, Standard Chartered’s regional operations have conducted similar maintenance in India in July of this year, with digital services temporarily suspended overnight. Likewise, Silkbank in Pakistan has notified its customers of maintenance-related disruptions affecting mobile and internet banking and debit card services.
Such maintenance schedules are typical among major banks in Pakistan, as they upgrade infrastructure, enhance security, and scale capacity.
Customers are advised to complete any urgent credit card payments or bookings before 7:00 pm on 26 July 2025 or wait until services fully resume by 5:00 am the following morning. While inconvenient, such scheduled downtimes are often timed for low-traffic overnight hours to minimize disruption.
Frequent short-term outages are often part of ongoing efforts to maintain system integrity and security. Banks periodically apply software updates, patch vulnerabilities, and prevent system overloads.
Editorial & Legal Practice Group
Authored and reviewed by the corporate law and tax litigation practice group at Javid Law Associates. Our team comprises High Court advocates, corporate legal advisors, and authorized tax practitioners across Pakistan.
Advocates High Court & Tax Counsel
Jurisdiction: Pakistan