August 14, 2002	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Saani 4, 1423

KARACHI, Aug 13: The State Bank has advised all banks to dispatch the statement of accounts to their customers through courier services.

In a circular (BPD no. 21) issued on Tuesday the SBP said that from now onwards “banks shall dispatch the statement of accounts pertaining to current as well as PLS account having balances of Rs10,000 or above through courier services.”

It further advised the banks not to charge more than Rs50 for duplicate statement of account. The central bank advised all banks to amend their existing schedule of charges accordingly.

The SBP circular says that the decision to ask the banks to send statement of accounts through courier services was taken with a view to ensuring that the customers receive the statements regularly and in time.

The circular says that non-delivery of account statements on time results in the customers remaining unaware of the exact balance in their account. “Due to this, in the recent past, there has been a spate of fraudulent withdrawal of money from the accounts of bank’s customers by unscrupulous users — sometimes in connivance of the staff.”