Exchange firms again refuse to accept old-design $100 bills

KCCI asks SBP to take strict action against the companies

KARACHI: Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) President Shamim Ahmed Firpo has urged the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to take strict action against currency exchange companies which refuse to convert old-design $100 notes and charge a 3-4% fee to exchange the old bills.

“The KCCI has been constantly receiving complaints of being given 3-4% less exchange rate for the old notes by exchange companies to its members,” a statement quoted Firpo as saying.

“I urge SBP Governor Tariq Bajwa to immediately initiate an inquiry and take strict penal action against the exchange companies,” he said.



These companies were resorting to blackmail, he said, deploring that they asked customers to get the notes exchanged from Dubai if the lower exchange rate was not acceptable. Firpo said he had heard reports of money-changers buying old-design notes at cheaper rates and exchanging the same in Dubai without incurring any cost and making huge profits in the process.

Stressing that old and new-design dollar bills were legal tenders and were acceptable around the world, Firpo said the issue kept surfacing in Pakistan periodically as a similar problem had arisen in January as well. The KCCI president said the money-changers who charged 3-4% fee for exchanging $100 bills put the blame on banks, which fiercely rejected the accusation.

“The SBP being a vigilant regulator has to thoroughly review the entire situation and accordingly take action against those responsible for looting the public and the business community,” he demanded.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 20^th, 2017.

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