KARACHI, Aug 16: Habib Bank Limited has stated that citizens whose lockers were broken into at the Saddar Road branch will be compensated for their losses but the compensation sums will not exceed the insurance ceiling.
The HBL insurance guarantee offers Rs0.5 million for small lockers and Rs1 million for large lockers. Locker-holders were shocked at Friday night’s heist that deprived them of their valuables but profess themselves to be in greater shock over the compensation sums. Initial reports suggest that most of the looted lockers held gold and jewellery worth much more than the insurance ceiling, with amounts varying from Rs5 million to Rs25 million.
“Claim forms are being distributed to the locker-holders and the process of claims’ submission is expected to be completed within two or three days,” HBL group executive Abid Sattar told Dawn. “The claims will be assessed by a three-member HBL committee. Claims for compensation exceeding the insurance ceiling will not be considered.” He added that locker-holders are always informed about the insurance ceiling at the time they take possession of the lockers.
State Bank of Pakistan rules require that depending on the size of the locker, comprehensive insurance with clear-cut cap limits be obtained at competitive rates from insurance companies to cover any act of vandalism against lockers. The State Bank makes it clear that in case of a break-in or damage to a locker by any means, “the locker-holder will be compensated by the bank or a Development Financial Institution (DFI) immediately as per the insurance ceiling of the lockers.”
It appears, however, that neither the State Bank nor HBL realised that the insurance ceiling was too low given the spiralling prices of gold and jewellery, which have almost doubled during the span of a year.
Security standards
State Bank regulations also require banks and DFIs to ensure that safe deposit locker rooms in their branches are adequately secured from all sides, and that the security arrangements in place are foolproof and meet the security standards developed by each bank of DFI.
However, it was observed that the security of various branches was not foolproof and in most robberies, the security guards were found to have been involved.
The State Bank allowed banks and DFIs to review their existing security arrangements and outsource to a security agency listed on the approved panel of the Pakistan Banks Association.
Interestingly, when banks posted their own employees as guards in various branches, such robberies were rare and caused limited loss. Banks were allowed to obtain an undertaking from the head of the contracted security companies regarding the recovery of losses incurred by the breakage of lockers by the company’s security guards. When asked about the undertaking from the security agency, Mr Sattar said that an investigation was under way and the position will become clearer in a few days.
Dear visitor, the comments section is undergoing an overhaul and will return soon.