LAHORE: Different branches of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) witnessed suspension of ATM services on the eve of Eidul Fitr and customers were unable to withdraw money from the machines.
Different branches of the bank out of a total of 1,400 across the country witnessed issues related to bad link, delaying issuance of pensions and failing to support finance-related needs of the locals few days before Eidul Fitr.
Long queues were seen outside different branches in Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other parts of the country on Saturday. The pensioners have accused bank officials of demanding bribe from them in order to withdraw their pensions ahead of Eid.
All 1,400 branches across the country are burdened today owing to the upcoming Eid but the online link has been restored, an NBP spokesperson said on Saturday.
He further stated that all the pensioners would be entertained by Monday, adding that the State Bank of Pakistan had revised timings of the banks during Ramazan.
The ATM sites of commercial banks will be examined by inspectors of State Bank and verification teams of SBP’s Banking Service Corporation (BSC) field offices during the period from July 1, 2016 till July 10, 2016 to verify their operational status.
In view of the extended Eid holidays, banks have also been advised to intimate BSC Field Offices, in advance, about the extra cash that they may need so that adequate arrangements could be made for replenishing their ATMs during Eid Holidays.
Furthermore, banks will also make certain that in addition to ATMs, continuous services are also available on point of sale (POS) and other alternate delivery channels (ADC).
Banks have also been instructed to ensure that dedicated teams from commercial banks are available for timely resolution of ATM related complaints; banks’ helpline are prominently displayed on ATM vestibules and advertised in print media for the facilitation of general public.
SBP has already instructed all commercial banks to remain open on July 2 and July 9. Commercial banks will accept financial instruments from their customers on the mentioned dates for normal clearing only and National Institutional Financial Technologies (NIFT) is advised to collect them from branches of commercial banks.
