ISLAMABAD, May 2: The State Bank of Pakistan has directed the administrations of all banks to stop accepting any currency note from the public if they find any effect or slogan on the image of Quaid-i-Azam, sources told Dawn on Thursday.
It was informed at a meeting held recently at the SBP office that any currency note having any mark on the portrait of Quaid-i-Azam will be borne by the banks.
The meeting was attended by the divisional heads of all commercial banks.
Following the instruction of the SBP, banks are reportedly strictly checking the currency notes which are deposited by their clients.
In order to save the bank from any penalty, these banks have reportedly stopped accepting any note on which even a single line of pen is found on the image of Quaid-e-Azam, the sources said.
However this attitude of the banks’ staff is not only affecting the business of the banks but the confidence of their clients is also shattering, an official of a national bank told Dawn.
The SBP also directed the banks not to take defective notes from the people and in case they receive such notes, they would have to wait for months to get the new notes in lieu of old ones from the SBP.
A source said that currency notes amounting to billions of rupees were sent to the SBP from all over the country everyday and if these notes were not exchanged on the next day, the entire banking industry will suffer.
