ABi- nnual N le e erttws

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ABi- nnual N le e erttws

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Prefatory

The fundamental emphasis of the Banking Mohtasib is to resolve the grievances of the consumers amicably, speedily and free of cost. Efforts are made to protect the interest of the depositors and to ensure that banks not only comply with the prescribed rules and regula ons of the State Bank of Pakistan but also apply them in fair and judicious manner.

Due to more public awareness about this ins tu on as an alternate dispute resolu on forum, in the last three years there has been seen an increase of 62% in public complaints. Although during the Global Pandemic of Covid-19 despite of the fact that our office was not working at full strength, we have received 11174 complaints during first six months of the year 2020 (i.e. from 01.01.2020 to 30.06.2020). These also include the complaints received at the Prime Minister Portal rela ng to banking issues. The increase in number of complaints represents the confidence of general public in the working of this ins tu on and the relief being obtained speedily and without any cost.

The recent development in the technological field such as the digital banking, internet banking, mobile banking and ATMs, in the development of the economic ac vity in the country is enormous. Unfortunately, a large segment of our society is not financially literate besides, low level of educa on par cularly those living in the rural areas do not have much knowledge about the products introduced by the banks. Certain fraudsters taking advantage of the innocent people misguide them for their poor knowledge of the latest banking techniques. All bank are con nuously making public awareness campaigns, to discourage their evil designs and guiding the customers not to disclose details of their personal and financial creden als to any unknown person but during past two to three years, a large number of complaints of unauthorized fund transfer were received. Recommenda ons in this regard to SBP have been made me to me to protect the depositors hard earned savings.

January – June, 2020

Banking Mohtasib PakistanSecretariat

5th Floor, Shaheen ComplexM R Kiyani RoadKarachi

Ph: 92-21-99217334-38info@bankingmohtasib.gov.pkwww.bankingmohtasib.gov.pk

Bi-Annual Newsletter 2020

The following table shows number of complaints received against each bank during the period from 1st January – 30th June, 2020 under review.

Bank-wise breakup of Complaints receivedin first six months of the year 2020.

Total 11174

S. No. Bank No. of Complaints 1 Albaraka Bank (Pakistan) Limited 28 2 Allied Bank Limited 1121 3 Askari Bank Limited 297 4 Bank Al Habib Limited 217 5 Bank Alfalah Limited 736 6 Bank Islami Pakistan Limited 80 7 Dubai Islamic Bank Pakistan Limited 91 8 Faysal Bank Limited 339 9 First Women Bank 2

10 Habib Bank Limited 2688 11 Habib Metropolitan Bank Limited 31 12 JS Bank Limited 477 13 MCB Bank Limited 965 14 Meezan Bank Limited 444 15 Na onal Bank of Pakistan 391 16 Samba Bank Limited 11 17 Silk Bank Limited 505 18 Sindh Bank 46 19 Soneri Bank Limited 69 20 Standard Chartered Bank (Pakistan) Limited 217 21 Summit Bank Limited 35 22 The Bank of Khyber 32 23 The Bank of Punjab 388 24 The Punjab Provincial Coopera ve Bank Limited 13 25 United Bank Limited 1674 26 Zarai Taraqia Bank Limited 46 27 Ins tu ons other than banks 231

Bi-Annual Newsletter 2020

The following table and Pie chart illustrate the overall complaints received in for the period from 1st January – 30th June, 2020, under different categories.

S. No. Categories From 1st January – 30th June, 2020

1 Services inefficiency/ Delays/ Others 2141 2 Consumer Products 765 3 ATMs 1830 4 Advances Loan and Deposits 358 5 Frauds 950 6 Insurance 384 7 Internet Banking 291 8 Gross Derelic on of Duty 3060 9 Service Rules 16

10 Others 1085 11 U lity Bills 4 12 Zakat Deduc on 12 13 Lockers 17 14 Foreign Currency Account 35 15 Exporters/Importers 25 16 Pension 2 17 Breach of Confiden ality 7 18 Corrup on or Malafide Prac ce 109 19 Foreign Currency 15

Total 11174

Total Complaints: Categories(1st January – 30th June, 2020)

Advances Loanand Deposits, 3

ATMs, 16

Consumer Products, 7

Services inefficiency/Delays/ Others, 19

Corrup on orMalafide Prac ce, 1Others, 10

Gross Derelic onof Duty, 27

Internet Banking, 3

Insurance, 3 Frauds, 9

Categoriza on of Complaints (1st January – 30th June, 2020)

Bi-Annual Newsletter 2020

Complaint Flow in the first six months of the year 2020As on January 1, 2020, there were 2778 unresolved complaints, while 11174 new complaints were received during the first six months of the year. Out of these 13952 complaints, 10447 were resolved amicably through reconcilia on while orders were passed in 132 cases. At least 674 complaints were rejected for being frivolous or for want of jurisdic on as the same were either pertained to insurance or microfinance banks, administra on of banks or fund managers.

Region-wise breakup of Complaintsreceived in first six months of the year 2020.The ins tu on of Banking Mohtasib Pakistan receives complaints against banks located all over the country. The table given below shows a region-wise breakup of complaints while the pie chart compares the percentage of complaints received (region-wise) during the year.

Region # of Complaints Punjab 6550 Sindh 1909 Balochistan 719 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 1169 Azad Kashmir 103 Gilgit Bal stan 2 Overseas 722 Total 11174

TOTAL COMPLAINTS: PROVINCE WISE 2020

Gilgit Bal stan, 0.02

Azad Kashmir, 0.93Overseas, 6.45Balochistan, 6.43

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,10.46

Sindh, 17.08Punjab, 58.62

DISPOSAL OF CASES

Cases Resolved

% o

f C

ase

s

Carried Forward

Carried ForwardRejectedOrder PassedThroughreconcilia on/se lement

0.93%

4.82%

19.32%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Complaint Flow in first six months of the year 2020 Complaints carried forward from 2019 2778 New Complaints received (2020) 11174Total 13952 Cases Decided/ Disposed by: Orders issued 130 Amicably resolved through concilia on 10447 Complaints requiring further informa on/ documents/rejected 674

Total Cases disposed off 11251 Relief provided to the Complainants 318.6(M) Complaints outstanding as on June 30, 2020 2701

ACTIVITIES

Bi-Annual Newsletter 2020

1. Banking Mohtasib Pakistan holds series of mee ngs with SBP Officials.

A series of mee ngs were held between the Banking Mohtasib Pakistan and the officials of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) during the first six months of the current year (1st January to 30th June, 2020). In these mee ngs, discussions were held on different issues regarding inter-bank fund transfer, systema c deficiencies, payment system, legal issues rela ng to consumers, and other ma ers of mutual interest. Discussions were also held for bringing further improvement in the services being provided by banks to their consumers.

2. Banking Mohtasib Officials a end course on Internal and External Frauds.A course on “Internal and External frauds- Tools for Fraud Inves ga ng and Repor ng” was organized by the Ins tute of Bankers Pakistan at its premises in Karachi on 17th February, 2020. Mr. Imran Ahmed and Mr. Sohail Ahmed Babar, Assistant Directors (Inves ga on) a ended the course which was mainly focused on different types of internal and external frauds and tools applied for its inves ga on and repor ng.

3. Two-day workshop on PPRA/SPPRA/BPPRA Rules and Procurement of Consultancy Services held in Karachi.A two-day workshop on “Public Procurement Regulatory Authority/ Sindh Public Procurement Regulatory Authority/ Balochistan Public Procurement Regulatory Authority rules and Procurement of Consultancy Services” was held on 19th and 20th February, 2020 at a local hotel in Karachi to cater to the need as well as to address issues related to rules and legal aspects in procurement of consultancy services.Mr. Muhammed Sohail, Consultant a ended the workshop, which was organized by the Ins tute of Tender Management.

4. Two-day workshop on Problems and Solu ons in Public Procurement and Step by Step Prac cal Procurement held in Karachi.A two-day workshop on “Problems and Solu ons in Public Procurement and Step by Step Prac cal Procurement” was held on 21st and 22nd February, 2020 to cater to the need and to address issues related to problems and solu ons with regard to public procurement as well as overall steps involved in prac cal procurement.Mr. Kazi Raheel Javed, Deputy Director, HR/Admin., and Mr. Muhammad Imran, Deputy Assistant Director, Finance a ended the workshop, which was organized by the Ins tute of Tender Management at a local hotel in Karachi.

CASE STUDIES IN BRIEF

1: Inter Bank Fund TransferThe Complainant submi ed that she was maintaining an account with a bank branch in Rawalpindi. On 20th January, 2020, she received a message on her mobile that an amount of Rs 182,000/- had been debited from her account. She had informed the Bank of this incident immediately and claimed for refund of amount debited from her account, but the Bank had declined her claim. She, therefore, lodged her complaint with the Banking Mohtasib Office for remedy.Upon receipt of the complaint, the ma er was taken up with the Bank. In response, the Bank a er thorough inves ga on accepted her claim and credited an amount of Rs 182,000/- to her account. The complainant confirmed the receipt of the said amount and expressed sa sfac on over the amicable resolu on of her complaint.2: Fraudulent transac on through ATMAs per Complainant she was maintaining an account of a bank located at Gujrat. On February 04, 2019, she received a call from the Bank’s official number on her mobile phone and the caller asked about her account informa on / ATM Card pin code, which was provided by her. Later, she came to know that an amount of Rs 78000/- had been illegally and unauthorizedly transferred from her account to some other account. She made several complaints with the Bank, but to no avail. She, therefore, lodged her complaint with the Banking Mohtasib Office for remedy.Upon receipt of the complaint, the ma er was taken up with the Bank. In response, the Bank a er thorough inves ga on credited an amount of Rs 78000/- to her account. The complainant confirmed the receipt of the said amount and had expressed sa sfac on over the amicable resolu on of her complaint.3: Third Party SaleThe Complainant submi ed that a bank had approached him to invest Rs 1,400,000/- in Fund Managers for two years with assurance that upon comple on of the tenure, he will get the invested amount back with high profit. However, in 2019 on comple on of the tenure, the complainant received only an amount of Rs 1,113,615/-, and no profit was given by the Bank. He lodged the complaint with the Bank, but to no avail. He, therefore, lodged his complaint with the Banking Mohtasib Office for remedy.Upon receipt of the complaint, the ma er was taken up with the Bank. In response, the Bank had informed that the amount of Rs 1,400,000/- was invested in Islamic Ac ve Alloca on Plan and on 22nd August, 2017, the complainant had executed an undertaking confirming that the features of the Plan / Product were explained to him by the concerned staff. However, on our interven on, the Bank refunded the difference amount of Rs 286,385/- to the complainant account on 26th June, 2020. The complainant confirmed the receipt of the said amount and expressed sa sfac on over the speedy resolu on of his complaint.

Bi-Annual Newsletter 2020