THE Banking Conduct and Consumer Protection Department of the State Bank of Pakistan is supposed to look into the complaints of customers who suffer wrong doing at the hands of commercial and other banks.

Of late it has been noticed that whenever a complaint is sent to them, they redirect it to the Banking Ombudsman and tell the complainant that this forum will decide on complaints against banks. The banking ombudsman is a legal platform to obtain relief but its SOPs have to be clearly met. On the other hand, there are many complaints of a minor or procedural nature that can get resolved immediately through SBP intervention.

It is requested that the SBP clearly state whether it has the mandate and authority to solve minor problems or it is now just a post man to redirect the customer’s complaints to the banking ombudsman. If the SBP cannot deal with complaints against banks, we should close the Banking Conduct and Consumer Protection Department to save the exchequer.

Zafar Hasan Khan
Karachi

Published in Dawn, June 25th, 2018