Complaints to banking ombudsman rise 135pc in Q1

KARACHI: The number of complaints against banks lodged with the banking mohtasib Pakistan rose 135 percent in the first quarter of 2021, a statement said on Friday.

The complaints were against alleged frauds, forgeries and other irregularities.

Banking Ombudsman Muhammad Kamran Shehzad has urged the general public not to disclose their personal and financial credentials to any person in order to protect themselves from any fraud, forgeries etc.

“Almost 11,732 complaints were received by the Banking Mohtasib Secretariat from 1st January to 31st March, 2021 as against 4,994 complaints received in the same period of last year depicting an increase of 135 percent,” said the statement.

These also include 7,595 complaints received on Prime Minister’s Portal relating to banking issues as compared to 1,411 complaints received during the first quarter of the previous year ie 2020, according to the First Quarterly Newsletter of the banking ombudsman published on Friday.

Out of the total 11,732 complaints, 5,375 complaints were received in the month of March only, which is the highest figure of complaints recorded in a single month since the inception of banking ombudsman office in 2005, it added.

The secretariat disposed of 4,672 complaints from January 1 to March 31, 2021 out of which only two percent of complaints were resolved through formal orders, while the remaining 98 percent of the complaints were resolved amicably. By disposing of these complaints, the office has provided monetary relief amounting to Rs132.62 million to the banking customers during the first quarter of 2021.

The increase in the number of complaints indicates that the general public feels that their genuine grievances would be resolved amicably by the mohtasib office.