ON Feb 21, I happened to visit a branch of a private bank located in the upscale Jinnah Market area of Islamabad to encash my wife’s cheque drawn on her salary account. The official at the counter, after scrutinising the cheque, said that since I was not the account holder of the cheque, a copy of my CNIC was required and a call would be made to the issuer of the cheque to ascertain the genuineness and authenticity of the transaction. I agreed to the proposition, although the amount involved was not particularly significant. Then started the part that I did not appreciate.

The cheque was handed back to me, and I was ordered, as if I was a bank employee, to take the cheque across the hall to the chief teller who was supposed to make a call to the account holder. After the needful had been done, I carried the cheque back to the counter. This time, I was asked to provide my cellphone number and undertake a biometric verification. I did the former readily, but as far as the biometric verification was concerned, I was unable to do that as my fingerprints have waned off, which is common among people in old age. I was back to square one. The cheque in question was returned unpaid without even an objection memo, which is a normal practice followed by all banks while returning

a cheque.

Before leaving the branch, I did meet the manager, and narrated the whole story. That, too, did not help, as, according to the manager, they were bound to strictly follow the bank rules and procedures.

In fact, I was surprised when I was told that I should get my verification done by my driver. I was flabbergasted that despite the fact that my wife had authenticated the transaction over the telephone, and I had shown my original CNIC, I still had to get the process of verification done by my driver. This I did not agree to, as a matter of principle. After all, how and why would the bank trust blindly a stranger who may or may not have known me? What if I and my driver were both ‘robbers’? Just the demand from the bank was ridiculous.

The management and the concerned regulators need to look into such matters and prioritise them while come up with solutions to such petty but rather irritating issues. Also, as far as the staff training is concerned, staff members should be groomed professionally, which was not the case during my interaction.

Khaled
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, March 26th, 2024