WASHINGTON, Aug 5: A decision by the National Bank of Pakistan to ban walk-in remittances caused panic in the Pakistani-American community, stirring rumours that the US was banning all money transfers to the country.

But in a statement issued on Friday, the bank assured Pakistanis living in the US that there was no ban on money transfers to Pakistan.

The NBP USA management, however, confirmed that it had decided to discontinue the mail-in and walk-in remittance service at its Washington DC branch from Sept 1, 2011. “As a better alternate we would like to introduce you to our internet-based Home Remittance Service called PAKREMIT,” the statement said.

PakRemit was National Bank of Pakistan USA’s web-based online home remittance service that offered a secure, swift and convenient way to remit money to Pakistan, the statement said.

This service allows users to transfer funds from any bank account in the US to any bank in Pakistan and is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

“There is no need to visit or mail in any cheques to any NBP USA branches,” the statement said. The bank assured its customers that the website was fully secure using the 128 bit SSL encryption technology for the protection of their personal information.

Through PakRemit, customers can remit funds in Pak rupees directly into an account with any bank in Pakistan or have the remittance delivered via courier service to a home address in Pakistan in the form of a cheque.

However, a US dollar remittance will be credited to the beneficiary’s dollar account only if the beneficiary’s account is maintained with the NBP in Pakistan. —Correspondent