Business

Customers face ‘slowdown’, NBP promises not again

Pensioners, government employees and ordinary depositors queued outside branches but faced cash withdrawal issues

Kazim Alam July 02, 2016

Most bank branches are usually closed on Saturday, but the SBP had directed them to stay open on July 2. PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI: Customers of state-owned National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) had to wait for hours on Saturday for cash withdrawal because of a country-wide ‘slowdown’ in its system.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, a spokesman for NBP said the bank’s operating system slowed down in the wake of massive payment transfers at the end of the fiscal year.

Pensioners, government employees and ordinary depositors queued up outside NBP branches across the country, as the bank struggled to provide them with cash on the second day of the fiscal year.

Empty ATMs deprive people of Eid shopping

“The system is now 98% restored. Although branches close at 12:30pm in Ramazan, our management has instructed them to stay open until each and every customer is facilitated,” he said.

He ruled out the possibility of another system-wide slowdown on Monday, saying the unusually high load at the end of the last fiscal year has already been handled adequately.

Commenting on the situation, the spokesman for the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said NBP’s system breakdown took place as the year-end closing of the state-owned bank coincided with unusually high cash withdrawal requests in the wake of Eid holidays.

“The operations of NBP have now been restored and it is providing its services to the pensioners,” he said in a statement later on Saturday. The SBP has taken immediate remedial measures to ensure uninterrupted provision of banking services to the general public, particularly the pensioners, he added.

Most bank branches are usually closed on Saturday, but the SBP had directed them to stay open on July 2 in view of upcoming Eid holidays. Banks will remain closed from July 5 to 8, which means people will have only Monday and Saturday in the next week to visit a bank branch.

A shortage of cash was expected in view of long Eid holidays. That was the reason the SBP had promised on July 1 that the general public would receive “hassle-free financial services” in the forthcoming extended holidays.

Eid shopping becomes nightmare for many

The SBP said it would inspect ATM sites of commercial banks during July 1 and July 10 to verify their operational status. In addition, the central bank had also advised commercial banks to intimate the SBP in advance about extra cash that they might need during Eid holidays. “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) Channels,” the SBP had assured the general public.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 3^rd, 2016.

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COMMENTS (2)

Pardeep kumar | 8 years ago | Reply The problem lies in when they will upgrade the system and their employees are not able to handle computers effectively. This is regular feature in many branches irrespective to heavy rush.

khan | 8 years ago | Reply Total nonsense. System was perfect and there was no slowdown. Actual problem was that system required at least 20 hours for end of day and end of year process but due to late Govt & fbr transaction upto 8.30 pm on 1st july, process started very late and was not available until 4.00pm on 2 july. Employees have to break their fast in bank. By the way in kpk payment of pension was already done on 29 & 30 june and there was no need to open branches on 2 july. We still have 4 July as working day

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