Banking Mohtasib provides Rs1.26bn relief to customers

KARACHI: The Banking Mohtasib (Ombudsman) Pakistan (BMP) provided relief amounting to Rs1.26 billion to customers by resolving 25,493 complaints against commercial banks in 2023, said BMP Sirajuddin Aziz said on Monday.

"Out of 36,437 complaints received during the year and those brought forward from the year 2022, 21,886 (86 percent) complaints were resolved amicably through reconciliation," Aziz told a news conference.

"The 676 (3 percent) complaints were decided after formal hearings and 2,931(11 percent) complaints were disposed of/rejected being incomplete, frivolous or due to lack of jurisdiction as per law under which the institution of BMP has been established."

While unveiling the Annual Report of BMP for the year 2023, Aziz explained that there was an increase of 21 percent in public complaints lodged with BMP Office against commercial banks during the year as compared to last year (2022).

However, there was a significant decrease in the complaints received on Prime Minister’s Portal, which explains overall decrease of 5 percent in total number of complaints during 2023 as compared to 2022.

The banking ombudsman disclosed that relief of approximately Rs6.4 billion was provided to the banking customers by the BMP since its inception in 2005.He said that the Annual Report 2023 of the Banking Mohtasib was presented to the President Asif Ali Zardari earlier this month.