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The Senate Standing Committee on Finance and Revenue on Tuesday sharply criticized commercial banks, for charging customers high fees for SMS alerts and other routine banking services, calling for immediate regulatory intervention.
During the session, chaired by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, lawmakers criticized banks for collecting “hundreds of millions of rupees” from customers under the guise of SMS alert services, often without clear, informed consent. The committee directed the Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to urgently investigate the matter and report back at the next meeting.
Senators said that routine alerts, such as transaction notifications designed to keep customers informed about their own accounts should not be treated as revenue lines.
“Banks must not treat essential banking alerts as optional profit-making services,” Senator Mandviwalla said, noting that customers are often unaware that they are being billed. Members of the committee described the practice as exploitative and stressed that customer protection should outweigh profit.
The spotlight fell especially on Meezan Bank, where multiple customers have taken to social media and consumer forums to claim they were charged for SMS alert services they did not request and did not even receive notifications about. In one widely shared complaint, a customer said he was billed Rs 1,800 for SMS alerts he never signed up for, despite receiving real-time notifications through the bank’s mobile app. He urged others to check and deactivate the service to avoid such charges and asked the bank to provide proof of consent.
Another customer later reported that Meezan Bank deducted Rs 2,000 from each account under the head of “SMS Charges”, an amount significantly higher than previous charges.
In response to the committee’s questions, the SBP Governor maintained that banks are allowed to charge for voluntary services with consent, and that mandatory SMS alerts are not billed. He noted that many banks increased fees following higher telecom rates, but also warned that any bank charging customers without proper notice could face regulatory action.
Committee members remained skeptical and ordered the SBP to review how SMS charges are recorded in banks’ financial statements, saying the scale of revenue merits full scrutiny. They also said regulators may seek reconciliation with telcos to verify the basis of such fees.
The panel concluded by stressing that customer protection must take precedence over profit-making and that the central bank should enforce clear, fair practices throughout the banking sector.
