KARACHI: Banking Mohtasib Pakistan has provided monetary relief amounting to Rs 639.1 million to the banking customers by disposing of 20,239 complaints during the first nine months (January – September) of the current calendar year, 2022.
A statement issued Monday informed that from January 01 to September 30, 2022, the Office of Banking Mohtasib received 24, 100 new complaints, including 11,162 from Prime Minister’s Portal.
With a view to protecting the banking customers from any fraud and forgeries, the Banking Mohtasib Pakistan, Muhammad Kamran Shehzad has reiterated that in order to safeguard their own interest, the customers should under no circumstances disclose their personal and financial information to any third person.
It may be pointed out here that out of 20,239 complaints, 19,742 (98 per cent) complaints were resolved amicably while 497 (2 per cent) complaints required resolution through formal orders.
KARACHI: The Banking Mohtasib [Ombudsman] Pakistan (BMP) has provided a relief of Rs263 million to the customs of commercial bank during the quarter ended July 30, 2022.
The ombudsman provided this relief by disposing of 7505 complaints against commercial banks in the second quarter (April to June 2022) of the current calendar year, 2022, according to the quarterly report by the office of Banking Mohtasib on Monday.
The Banking Mohtasib received 7198 new complaints, including 2886 from Prime Minister’s Portal from 1st April to June 30, 2022 while it had received 8845 complaints during the same period of last year.
With a view to protecting people from fraudulent activities which are rampant now a days, the Banking Mohtasib Pakistan, Mr. Muhammad Kamran Shehzad has emphasized upon the banking customers no to disclose their personal and financial credentials to any third person.
One Regional Office will be established in Faisalabad and the other at Muzaffarabad, Azad Kashmir. With the setting up of theses Offices, the banking customers of the above-mentioned areas will benefit from the services being offered by the Banking Mohtasib Pakistan as they have to travel to Lahore/ Multan in case of Faisalabad and to Rawalpindi in case of AJK.
This step is in the direction of Banking Mohtasib’s vision to provide justice at the doorsteps of the complainants. It may be added here that services of Banking Mohtasib are free of cost and the complainants did not need to engage an advocate to plead their case.
At present, the Banking Ombudsman has five Regional Offices, which are located in Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi and Multan, besides a Secretariat in Karachi. With the establishment of new offices, the number of Regional Offices will rise to seven.
KARACHI: The Banking Mohtasib Pakistan has provided monetary relief amounting to Rs 225 million to the banking customers by disposing of 6,563 complaints against commercial banks during the first quarter (January to March, 2022) of the current calendar year.
According to a statement issued on Tuesday the Banking Mohtasib has received 8,845 new complaints, including 4,614 from Prime Minister’s Portal from 1st January to 31st March, 2022.
With a view to protecting the people from fraudulent activities which are rampant now a days, the Banking Mohtasib Pakistan, Muhammad Kamran Shehzad has emphasized upon the banking customers not to disclose their personal and financial credentials to any third person.
On receipt of suspicious calls they should immediately approach the nearest branch of their bank or contact the helpline of the bank, he added.
ISLAMABAD: The President of Pakistan, Dr. Arif Alvi has directed the Bank of Punjab to refund money to a family of a deceased person, which was recovered unfairly.
President Dr. Arif Alvi upheld a decision of the Banking Mohtasib of Pakistan (BMP) ordering the Bank of Punjab to refund an amount of Rs 423,556 to the family of a deceased borrower which the Bank had unilaterally and unfairly recovered from the family.
The President observed that the bank unnecessarily complicated a routine matter as its own SOPs empowered it to give financial relief in such cases.
Late Mian Allah Wasaya had availed a loan of Rs 3 million in 2015 from the Bank of Punjab and deposited Regular Income Certificates (RICs) issued by the Central Directorate of National Savings, valuing Rs 3.5 million, as Liquid Security with the Bank.
On January 27, 2017, he passed away, and the Bank on its own encashed the RICs then worth Rs 4.155 million and charged a mark-up of Rs 480,489 till October 22, 2018, while the accumulated mark-up at the time of Wasaya’s death was only Rs 57,294.
The widow of Allah Wasaya (the complainant) requested the bank to charge mark-up till the period her husband was alive and waive off the mark-up thereafter.
The Bank, however, did not accede to her request after which she approached the Banking Mohtasib for redressal of her grievance.
After hearing the case and perusing the available record, the Banking Mohtasib noted that at the time of death the principal outstanding amount was Rs 2.889 million and the accumulated mark-up was Rs 57,294 only.
In the given circumstances, it was the fiduciary responsibility of the bank to guide the legal heirs for adjustment of outstanding liability at this level against encashment of RICs, the BMP observed.
It further noted that instead of exercising its statutory obligation to set off the loan against liquid security, the bank continued to linger on recovery and unnecessarily piled-up mark-up on the principal outstanding amount which was unfair as per the State Bank’s guidelines.
The Mohtasib termed the claim of the bank as absurd and unprofessional that the matter pertained to the year 2018 and its books have been closed, therefore, it was not in a position to provide financial relief.
It added that no rule, regulations, law, or accountant standard was referred which barred the bank to revisit the old/closed cases as such types of transactions were a routine matter.
The Ombudsman held that unilaterally charging and recovering mark-up without justification beyond Rs 57,294 was an injustice to the deceased borrower’s family.
It ordered that the Bank had committed maladministration and malpractice by not exercising its rights without any valid reason even though holding fully cashable liquid security under the loan agreement documents and piling up mark-up liability unnecessarily.
The Bank, subsequently, filed a representation against this decision of the BMP with the President. The President upheld Mohtasib’s decision and held that Bank had not provided any justification to upset the original order of the BMP.
The representation is rejected as it is devoid of any merit and the bank had failed to discharge the burden and statutory liability cast upon it under the law, the President noted in his decision.
Banking customers have been provided relief of an amount of Rs709 million in complaints lodged against banks, according to a statement issued on Tuesday.
The Banking Mohtasib Pakistan (BMP) has provided relief amounting to Rs 709 million to the banking customers by disposing of 32,592 complaints during the year, 2021 out of 37,364 complaints which works out to about 87 per cent of the total complaints as compared to the year, 2020 wherein relief of Rs 598 million was provided to the banking customers by disposing of 21,360 complaints.
According to the Annual report for the year 2021 of BMP which was released today 33,196 new complaints, including 18,762 complaints from Prime Minister’s portal, were received at BMP Secretariat in 2021 whereas 4167 of complaints were brought forward from the year, 2020.
An increase of about 46% was observed in the receipt of complaints at BMP during the year, 2021 as compared to the year, 2020. In-spite of Covid-19, Banking Mohtasib Pakistan Office has succeeded in maintaining the regular pace of disposing of complaints while adhering to the prescribed Covid-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
To keep pace with the technology and to meet the art of the technological product, BMP has embarked upon a project to upgrade the I.T. system and revamp its website.
This revamped website will contain an online complaint lodgment portal for general public which will be followed by launching of SMS service by sometime in June this year to keep them abreast with the status of their complaints.
With a view to protecting the people from fraudulent activities which are rampant now a days, the Banking Mohtasib, Mr. Kamran Shehzad has also emphasized on the banking customers that they should not disclose their personal and financial credentials to any third person. On receipt of suspicious calls they should immediately approach the nearest branch of their bank or contact the helpline of the bank, he added.
President Dr Arif Alvi has upheld two different decisions of the Banking Mohtasib (BM) ordering Al Baraka Bank Ltd (ABBL) and Habib Bank Ltd (HBL) to pay Rs9.145 million to Mrs. Zahida Naseem and Rs 5 million to Mushtaq Ahmed Bajwa, respectively, who had been swindled out of their money by the management of the banks.
The President rejected the appeals of both the banks against the decisions of the Banking Mohtasib.
He regretted that the victims of fraud, including an Overseas Pakistani, suffered a lot at the hands of the banks’ management and no relief was provided to them.
He urged the public to avail the services of the Banking Mohtasib to seek relief in fraud cases as well as against the maladministration of bank officials/officers.
According to details of both the cases, Mrs Zahida Naseem (complainant) opened her PKR Account on 03-03-2017 and British Pound Sterling on 28-03-2017 with Al Baraka Bank, at DHA Branch, Lahore. She applied for Term Deposit for an amount of Rs 10.7 million for one year after signing her cheque and TDR Application Form.
The then Branch Manager, Omer Ikram, provided her fake and fabricated Account Statement and TDR Certificates on bank’s Letter Head.
However, in July, she came to know that the given account statement and TDR certificates were fake and fabricated.
The Bank Manger had fraudulently used her cheque and requested for Real Time Gross Settlement instead of TDR. It was later revealed that Ikram had allegedly committed fraud of huge amount of Rs 125 million and was an expert in making and providing tampered and fake bank statements to his clients.
This was admitted by the bank which had cancelled the policies of clients and had refunded money to respective accounts in different cases. In this case, an amount of Rs 9 million was transferred to the bank account of Mr Ikram’s personal driver.
Mrs. Naseem requested ABBL to credit the lost funds to her account but without any result. Subsequently, she approached the Banking Mohtasib for the redressal of her grievance.
In a similar case, Mushtaq Ahmed Bajwa (complainant), an Overseas Pakistani living in Holland, was maintaining a PLS Saving Account with Habib Bank Ltd’s branch in Faisalabad.
He handed over cash of Rs 5 million to the then branch manager, Akhtar Hussain, on 14-04-2017.
Hussain filled in the deposit slip, and after signing and stamping it, handed over the counterfoil to the complainant. Later on, his brother informed him in Holland that an internal fraud had been perpetrated and funds deposited by several depositors had been embezzled by the ex-Branch Manager.
The manager had deceitfully mentioned some imaginary cheque numbers on his deposit slip instead of cash amount personally handed over to him.
Further, the bank lodged an FIR with FIA Faisalabad against the main accused and his accomplices. The bank did not pay Bajwa his claim despite acknowledging his complaint, after which, the complainant approached the Banking Mohtasib to seek justice.
The Banking Mohtasib investigated both the cases and, after perusal of facts, ordered that the complainants may be refunded their lost money by the respective banks.
Wafaqi Mohtasib held that the complainants had entrusted their hard earned money to the concerned banks and it was fiduciary duty of the banks to protect their customers.
It noted that the appointment of vigilant bank officials, honest and professional staff was the responsibility of the bank and not of the complainants.
The Ombudsman noted that the bank officials had been duly posted by the management of the banks and they were performing the employer’s business, when the complainants had suffered financial losses due to the unethical and fraudulent activities of the authorized bank officers.
The bank cannot escape the liability in such cases when the commission of fraud with the accountholder by its management is established and admitted, the BM held.
The Mohtasib ordered that both the banks were responsible to make good the loss of the complainants without further delay. Subsequently, the banks filed separate appeals against the decisions of the BM.
President Dr Arif Alvi upheld both the decisions of the Mohtasib on the grounds that banks were given ample opportunity by the Mohtasib to defend and controvert the claims of the complainants, however, banks had failed to discharge the burden and statutory liability cast upon them under the law.
“No justification has been made to upset the order of the learned Banking Mohtasib”, the President wrote while rejecting the representations of the banks.
The President ordered the bank to pay the amount to complainant in fraud case, a statement said on Saturday.
According to the details, President Dr. Arif Alvi has rejected the representation, filed by the Soneri Bank Ltd (SBL) against the order of the Banking Mohtasib, and has made the bank responsible to make good the loss of the money to the complainant without further delay.
While upholding the orders of the Banking Mohtasib to pay an amount of Rs 800,000 amount to the complainant, the President stated in his decision that the bank could not escape the liability in a case of this kind, when the commission of fraud with the account holder by its management was established and admitted.
He said that the ample opportunity had been provided to the Bank before the learned Banking Mohtasib to defend and controvert the claim of the complainant and even before the forum, however, the bank had failed to discharge the burden and statutory liability cast upon it under the law.
Muhammad Danish Naseem (the complainant) maintains an account with the Soneri Bank Ltd Sargodha Road Branch, Sheikhupura.
Danish opened his account on 22-10-2018 in the bank branch and requested the Manager to deposit PKR. 2,000,000/- (two million rupees) cash in the said account. Whereas, the Manager gave him deposit slips of Rs. 500,000/-, Rs. 900,000/- and Rs. 600,000/- respectively.
Despite insistence of the account holder for issuing one deposit slip of amount i.e. Rs. 2 million, the bank manger issued three deposit slips saying that it was to overcome the restrictions of the SBP.
Later, the account holder wanted to draw money from his account but there was no sufficient balance in his account. He lodged a complaint with the bank’s authorities but his grievance was not addressed.
Although, the complainant possessed valid deposit slips admittedly issued by the Ex-Manager bearing his genuine signature and Branch Stamp affixed thereon which validated customer claim to the extent that the Bank had not accounted for amounts of PKR. 2,000,000/- in his account.
Furthermore, the Bank had admitted during the proceedings before the Banking Mohtasib that the receipts in possession of the customers bore signatures of the Bank’s ex-Manager.
Despite all these proofs, the complainant was compelled to run from pillar to post and no relief was provided to him. Feeling aggrieved, Danish Naseem approached the Banking Mohtasib for his grievance.
The Banking Mohtasib, under Section 82 D of the BCO read with Section 9 of the Federal Ombudsmen Institutional Reforms Act, 2013 (No. XIV of 2013), advised the Bank to forthwith make good the loss by crediting the account of the complainant with a sum of Rs800,000/- in pursuance of the findings.
While rejecting representation of the Bank, the President has noted that it is a case of wrong doing and maladministration by the Bank officials and it is, therefore, responsible to make good the loss of the complainant.
He further stated that the ambit and extent of jurisdiction of Banking Mohtasib was spelt out under Section 82A (3)(a)(e), Section 82B(4)(5) and Section 82F of the Banking Companies Ordinance, 1962.
The cumulative reading and perusal of these provisions of law undoubtedly leads to the conclusion that the Banking Mohtasib is to inquire into the complainants about banking malpractices, maladministration, wrong doings, the fraudulent transactions, the corrupt and malafide practices by the Bank officials and pass appropriate orders on conclusion of inquiry.
These powers of the Banking Mohtasib when considered in context with Section 18 and 24 of the Federal Ombudsmen Institutional Reforms Act, 2013 further show that in matters falling within the jurisdiction of the Banking Mohtasib, stated the decision.
KARACHI: The Banking Mohtasib (Ombudsman) Pakistan has provided monetary relief amounting to Rs 305.5 million to the banking customers by disposing of 14,910 complaints during the first half (January to June) of the current calendar year, 2021, according to a press release issued on Tuesday.
About 99 per cent (14,755) complaints were resolved amicably while only1 per cent (155) complaints required resolution through formal Orders.
There is no letup in the number of complaints being lodged against commercial banks with the Banking Mohtasib as nearly 20,220 new complaints, including 13,027 from Prime Minister’s Portal, were received from 1st January to 30th June, 2021.
There has been 81 per cent increase in the number of complaints lodged with the Banking Mohtasib against commercial banks during the first half of the current year, 2021 as against the first half of the last calendar year, 2020 when 11,174 complaints were filed.
It may be pointed out that during the first half of the last calendar year (2020), the Banking Mohtasib Office had provided monetary relief amounting to Rs 318.6 million to the banking customers by disposing of 11,251 complaints. More complaints were disposed of than received was due to the fact that some complaints were carried forward from the year, 2019.
With a view to protecting the banking customers from any fraud and forgeries, the Banking Mohtasib Pakistan continuously reminds them not to disclose their personal and financial information to any person.
ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday rejected the representation of MCB Bank challenging the order of Banking Mohtasib to credit the lost money to its account holder, who had fallen victim to internet banking fraud.
The President said the bank’s argument on declaring the unauthorized funds transfer as the customer’s liability for divulging his personal information to an unknown caller, was “not tenable”.
“The ‘strange and evasive stance’ of the MCB that this being a matter of internet fraud and the Bank is not responsible for the loss of its customer’s money owing to compromised credentials by customer himself is just shrugging off Bank’s fiduciary responsibilities to an innocent account holder,” he wrote in his order.
The President, in his decision, pointed out that MCB failed to explain how an aggregate amount of Rs 497,600 was transferred in a day from the complainant’s account against the default per day limit of Rs.100,000 set on his Visa Debit Card.
“This is a serious gap where the system has allowed fund transfers beyond the assigned per day Internet Banking limit on a transaction,” he said, adding that had the internet banking system been properly functioning, it could have prevented transfer of funds.
A sum of Rs 497,600 was transferred from the account of Shaukat Ali, a bank account holder with MCB Karachi, after he received multiple calls on his mobile phone on October 28, 2018, posing to be from the Census Department and the bank.
The unknown callers sought from Shaukat Ali (complainant) the details of his bank account, which he admittedly shared assuming the calls were from the bank.
For retrieval of his lost funds, he filed several complaints with the bank, however on finding no redressal of his grievance, he approached the Banking Mohtasib.
The finding of the Banking Mohtasib revealed that the complainant had never requested for the Internet/Mobile Banking facility and also had no knowledge about its use. However, on his request to enhance the limit of his Debit Card in 2016, the bank activated the said feature without his consent.
It said that the bank gave no evidence on holding any consent from the account holder for registration of Mobile Banking/Internet Banking Applications under the Violation of State Bank of Pakistan Circular No. 3 of 2015 dated October 21, 2015.
The Banking Mohtasib in its order said no matter if the customer had divulged his personal information to an unknown caller, but had the “unsolicited facility not become functional automatically, that too without knowledge and consent of the complainant, the account holder would have been saved from the loss”.
It advised the bank to “make good the loss by crediting the complainant’s account with a sum of Rs 497,600 together with other charges and Withholding Tax on disputed fund transfers.
President Alvi, in response to the representation of MCB assailing the order of the Banking Mohtasib said that primarily, it was the responsibility of the bank to protect the interest of their depositors.
He stressed that the bank should have educated the accountholder about Electronic Fund Transfer before activating the channel by default.
Dr Alvi said there was no justification to upset the order of the Banking Mohtasib which had afforded the bank ample opportunity to defend and controvert the claim of the complainant. Despite this, he said, the bank “failed to discharge the burden and statutory liability cast upon it under the law”.
As digital banking becomes popular, he said, the banks must ensure that their clients thoroughly understand how to protect themselves from fraud.
“We must protect the interests of the people of Pakistan, banking clients, who have been sold products that can be used to scam them of their hard-earned money,” he wrote in his order.
The President, therefore, rejected the representation of the bank for being “devoid of any merit”, in favour of the complainant seeking refund of money fraudulently transferred from his account.
KARACHI: The office of Banking Mohtasib Pakistan has said that complaints against banking frauds, forgeries and other regularities were monthly highest received in March 2021 since the inception of Mohtasib office in 2005.
Complaints against banking frauds and forgeries registered massive increase of 135 percent during three months (January – March) of 2021 as compared with same period of the last year.
According to a statement issued on Friday, the office of the Banking Mohtasib Pakistan said that over 135 percent increase had been observed in the number of complaints lodged against alleged frauds, forgeries and other irregularities during the first quarter (January – March) of 2021 as compared to the same period of the last year 2020.
The office of the Banking Mohtasib Pakistan said that 11,732 complaints were received by the Banking Mohtasib Secretariat during the first quarter of 2021 as compared with 4,994 complaints received in the same period of the last year.
“These also include 7,595 complaints received on Prime Minister’s Portal relating to banking issues as compared to 1,411 complaints received during the first quarter of previous year.”
Out of total 11,732 complaints, 5,375 complaints were received in the month of March only, which is the highest figure of complaints recorded in a single month since the inception of Banking Mohtasib Pakistan Office in 2005.
“The increase in number of complaints indicates that the general public feels that their genuine grievances will be resolved amicably by the Banking Mohtasib office,” according to the statement.
The Banking Mohtasib Secretariat disposed of 4,672 complaints from January 01 to March 31, 2021 out of which only two percent of complaints were resolved through formal orders while remaining 98 percent of complaints were resolved amicably.
By disposing of these complaints, the Banking Mohtasib Office has provided monetary relief amounting to Rs132.62 million to the banking customers during the first quarter of 2021.
Banking Mohtasib Pakistan Muhammad Kamran Shehzad urged the general public not to disclose their personal and financial credential to any person in order to protect themselves from any fraud and forgeries.
