I AM an account holder of a branch of the National Bank of Pakistan. It is run fairly efficiently, and I have had no complaints.

The process has been simple: I would hand in my cheque at a counter, the man would process it in minutes, and I would take the cheque to the next counter where the teller would give me the money in a couple of minutes.

Over a fortnight, the process has been changed. The same man posts the cheque and is also the teller. When I went there last time, there was a long queue and I just couldn’t understand what the big deal was and why one man was being called upon to do both the jobs.

I talked to the manager, who appeared highly frustrated. He said he was fed up with the NBP headquarters’ orders that the same man should clear the cheque and make payment. This was, he said, known to be ‘core banking’.

If this is ‘core banking’, we rather not have it. Of what use is it when it wastes the client’s time?

JAMEEL MUKHTARKarachi