April 7, 2006	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 8, 1427

KARACHI, April 6: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday directed the banks to clear all outstanding claims of the account holders, who used faulty ATMs that failed to deliver cash, by May 15, 2006.

The account holders had complained that many ATMs were not functioning properly as the amount, that they wished to draw, was not retrieved from the machine. However, the message of withdrawal was fed into the system resulting in deductions from the accounts of amount which was not actually received by them.

It may take 3 to 12 months to get back the stuck-up amount and the customers have to follow a long complicated procedure, the account holders said adding that millions of rupees of the users have stuck-up because of the faulty ATMs.

“Banks are required to clear all outstanding claims positively by May 15, 2006,” said the detailed guidelines issued by the SBP.

The SBP has recommended that the banks should install cameras in ATM cabins or rooms within three months from the date of issue of this circular to have secondary evidence against cash claims to satisfy customers. The location should be adjusted in a way that PIN could not be captured.

“The new procedures will apply on transactions executed on or after May 1, 2006,” said the SBP.

Customers, whose account has been debited without cash disbursement, should not be charged for minimum balance to the extent of non-disbursed amount and the time for which it remained payable.

All branches of commercial banks having ATMs are now required to carry out ATM cash-balancing and reconciliation on every working day at a time fixed by their head offices. However, the time should not be during the peak hours and should not cause disruption of ATM services for extended hours, said the SBP.

The actual cash is to be balanced with cash journal provided by the ATM and reconciliation is to be carried out for difference in cash balances in order to identify the disputed transactions.

“Individual transactions are to be identified wherein the customer’s account has been debited without cash disbursement,” it said.

Commercial banks operating ATMs should develop a detailed documented procedure for “automatic credit” and arrange training of the relevant staff members. The procedure should facilitate the customers as well as meet the control objectives of the bank.

“The branch must report its Card Facilitation Centre (CFC) details of claims settled, outstanding ones and the balance in suspense account on daily basis,” said the guidelines.

All banks are required to identify at least two key personnel (Address, Phone, Fax and e-mail address) of CFC who will be responsible to answer queries. This information should also be made available on the websites.

Immediately after crediting account of the customer, the issuing bank must inform the customer in writing accordingly.

“This time-frame has been agreed for a period of six months from the date of issue of this circular. The banks are required to review and redesign their internal processes and through the use of IT solutions, should further reduce the time,” said the SBP.

All banks have been told to send details to Payment Systems Department of the SBP latest by the 15th of next month.