The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has advised all commercial banks to take necessary measures for facilitation of general public, in order to ensure uninterrupted availability of Automated Teller Machine (ATM) services on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr.
The ATM sites of commercial banks will be examined by inspectors of State Bank and verification teams of SBP’s Banking Service Corporation (BSC) field offices during the period from July 1, 2016, till July 10, 2016, to verify their operational status.
In view of the extended Eid holidays, banks have also been advised to intimate SBP BSC Field Offices, in advance, about the extra cash that they may need so that adequate arrangements could be made for replenishing their ATMs during Eid Holidays.
Furthermore, banks will also make certain that in addition to ATMs, continuous services are also available on Point of Sale (POS) and other Alternate Delivery Channels (ADC) Channels.
Banks have also been instructed to ensure that dedicated teams from commercial banks are available for timely resolution of ATM related complaints; contact numbers of banks’ Helpline are prominently displayed on ATM vestibules and advertised in print media for the facilitation of general public.
SBP has already instructed all commercial banks to remain open on 2nd and 9th July. Commercial banks will accept financial instruments from their customers on 2nd and 9th July 2016 for normal clearing only and National Institutional Financial Technologies (NIFT) is advised to collect them from branches of commercial banks.
NIFT will process the financial instruments collected on June 30, 2016, and July 2, 2016, in normal clearing cycle of July 4, 2016. Once the instruments are cleared, the banks will be required to credit respective customer accounts on July 4, 2016, whereas the financial instruments collected by NIFT on July 4, 2016.