Senate panel questions banks' SMS charges

SBP reveals Rs18.7b collected from consumers annually

ISLAMABAD:

A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance, chaired by Saleem Mandviwalla, expressed concern on Wednesday over consumer complaints regarding high charges imposed by banks for messaging services.

During the meeting, Mandviwalla noted that consumers have been raising concerns that banks charge excessive fees for SMS alerts.

Chairman of the Pakistan Banks Association, Zafar Masud, briefed the committee that customers pay charges to both banks and telecom companies for messaging services.

He stated that banks cannot fully recover their costs despite these charges, collectively incurring expenses of approximately Rs2 billion annually.

Masud added that mobile companies charge around 60 paisas per SMS from consumers and impose significantly higher charges on banks.

"These charges are quite high," he said, adding that digital banking applications do not levy any charges on consumers for notifications.

State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Deputy Governor Inayat Hussain informed the committee that under regulatory instructions, banks are required to send SMS alerts to their customers.

He revealed that banks collect approximately Rs18.7 billion annually from consumers in SMS-related charges while paying around Rs25.6 billion to telecom companies.

According to Hussain, telecom companies charge banks nearly five times more than they charge regular consumers. He further stated that banks bear around Rs7 billion annually from their own resources to cover these costs.

The committee directed banks to provide complete details of charges related to regulatory and other messaging services.

Meanwhile, Senator Abdul Qadir remarked that banks earn profits of around Rs400 billion annually, so paying Rs7 billion in this regard should not be considered significant.