Banks offering competitive rates on fixed deposits, interest rates on loans

KARACHI: Different banks are offering competitive profit margins on the fixed bank accounts and interest rates on loans.

The interest rate and the profit margin on fixed bank accounts varies among banks, mobile banking institutes as well in different schemes of an individual bank. These are actual various incentives to attract cash deposits. The weaker economic conditions are also playing a role in encouraging the deposits.

According to the Daily Jang survey, Rs 25 lakh profit is offered on an average by an individual branch. For three year fixed deposit, some banks are offering 14.25 per cent profit while others offer 10.50 per cent.

Banking experts term this a mere jugglery of figures in their promotional advertisements to cheat the people, as the interest rate and the rate of return is fixed by the State Bank of Pakistan and no deviation is possible. These banks have meanwhile, increased the service charges on pay orders.

The mobile banking business continues to grow as a large number of people are using them to dispatch money. They charge a higher interest rate and higher service charges than the normal banks for cash transfers. They are charging Rs 60 for transferring Rs 1000 as service charges.