LAHORE, May 4: None of the 12 automated teller machines (ATMs) of the National Bank of Pakistan in Lahore have been dispensing cash since Saturday evening.

While a bank executive of the NBP blame it on the outdated software and hardware, a number of online money supply service users said the ATMs always ‘develop problems’ during the first five days of every month and on weekends and more than one closed holidays.

Only the ATM at NBP’s Wahdat Road branch was dispensing cash till Saturday evening while the ones outside the main, Jinnah Hall, Shadman Chowk (Jail Road), Davies Road, Gulberg main boulevard, Lahore Cantonment, Baghbanpura, Moon Market of Iqbal Town, Model Town and Defence Y Block branches would inform the user that his or her account number was not correct or accessible. Some would get information about their balance, history of last 10 transactions while the lucky ones would get between Rs2,000 and Rs5,000 after two or three attempts. In normal cases, an NBP account holder can draw a maximum of Rs20,000 in 24 hours from any ATM of the bank.

The ATMs at Wapda House and Queen’s Road branches had been lying idle for the last couple of months.

A vice-president of the bank at its main branch told this reporter that both software and hardware of the ATMs had outlived their utility. “We have written many a time to the people concerned at our Karachi headquarters and talked to them on phone, but they always tell us that a requisition had been sent to the higher-ups in this regard and the system would soon be replaced,” said the officer who wished not to be named.

He said the NBP had on March 14 unilaterally suspended its One-Link service with 14 other banks after finding out that a cyber gang had withdrawn millions of rupees from its different branches through ATMs by cracking the Personal Identification Number (PIN) codes and hardware security modules.

“The quality of our online banking service has further deteriorated after March 14 because earlier our customers used to get money through ATMs of other banks,” he said.

The ATM card issuance has already been suspended for the last couple of months.

NBP President Ali Reza could not be reached for a comment.