I WOULD like to draw the attention of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to some of the charges being imposed by many banks, like the one related to account closure. Some banks impose these charges with certain conditions. For example, if customers wish to close an account within six months of opening it, they have to pay an account closure fee. That may not be fair, but it does have some logic behind it. However, some banks insist on charging the customers even when they have maintained their accounts for decades, and even when they are trying to close their account due to service degradation or poor customer services. This is not a fair banking practice.

Similarly, many banks do not close the account even after a customer’s written application. Sometimes, when they do, the banks do not remove customer’s personal data, such as email, phone number, etc, from their database, and keep sending their marketing messages. Hopefully, the SBP management would address these practices to ensure consumer protection as well as privacy of data.

Jawwad Zaki
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2024