ISLAMABAD
\nPresident Dr Arif Alvi has called upon all the banks of the country to regularly warn their customers and clients about banking scams, including banking frauds involving online funds transfers, and improve their regular communication with clients.
\nHe said that simple people were being frequently entrapped by fraudsters and swindled out of their hard-earned money through fake calls and sometimes even inside the banking premises.
\nThe president gave these remarks while writing his decision on a representation preferred by the Habib Bank Ltd (HBL) against a decision of the Wafaqi Mohtasib.
\nHe rejected HBL\u2019s representation and further directed it to pay Rs 249,525 to a poor cook from Rahim Yar Khan, who had been defrauded out of his money by fraudsters who had obtained his personal banking credentials by posing as bank officials on the telephone and got the money transferred out of his account through online means.
\nAli Muhammad (the complainant) was swindled out of his money by fraudsters and he approached the bank for getting a refund of his lost amount. After getting no results, he approached the Wafaqi Mohtasib for retrieval of his defrauded money.
\nThe mohtasib, after investigating and hearing the case, directed HBL to refund the lost amount, but instead of implementing the decision, HBL preferred a representation with the president, which was rejected.
\nThe president highlighted that as per the State Bank of Pakistan\u2019s (SBP) directives, the bank was bound to obtain the customer\u2019s consent before activating the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) facility and the bank had failed to submit any document\/evidence to the effect that it had complied with the provisions of law, rules and regulations.
\nThe bank could not prove that it had informed the customer about the EFT facility in writing and explained to him its pros and cons in a clearly understandable manner, he added.
\nThe president further highlighted that the loss of money had occurred due to the reason that the Bank\u2019s EFT facility was made operational unilaterally without the consent and knowledge of the account holder.
\n\u201cHad this channel not been opened by the bank, the account holder could have avoided this financial loss\u201d, he noted.
\nThe president held that gross violations of rules\/regulations of SBP had rendered the bank non-compliant, and malpractice and maladministration had been established.
\nHe concluded that the bank had failed to discharge the burden and statutory liability cast upon it under the law, and no justification was presented to interfere with the original order of the Mohtasib, therefore, the representation was rejected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
ISLAMABAD President Dr Arif Alvi has called upon all the banks of the country to regularly warn their customers and clients about banking scams, including banking frauds involving online funds transfers, and improve their regular communication with clients. He said that simple people were being frequently entrapped by fraudsters and swindled out of their hard-earned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":269881,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[1218],"class_list":{"0":"post-282912","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-president-alvi"},"yoast_head":"\n