Pakistani banks have been directed to immediately stop billing customers for text message alerts they never signed up for, following disclosures that the banking sector collects an estimated Rs200 billion every year through such charges.
The Senate Standing Committee on Finance issued the directive on Wednesday during a session chaired by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla, where lawmakers scrutinized a range of hidden and disputed fees imposed on bank customers, including dollar-denominated charges on ATM withdrawals and Visa card transactions.
Senator Abdul Qadir told the committee that customers are being charged anywhere between 30 paisa and Rs2.5 for each SMS notification, despite the actual cost of sending a single message standing at just 35 paisa.
He said banks pad this base rate with bundled service offers, effectively inflating charges well beyond the real cost and pocketing the difference at the expense of account holders.
Chairman Mandviwalla criticized the practice further, pointing out that many customers who have no interest in receiving SMS alerts continue to be sent messages anyway, with charges deducted regardless of consent.
The State Bank governor, responding to the concerns raised, told the committee that the SMS charges in question are levied by telecom operators and not by the banks themselves.
Unconvinced, the committee ordered that going forward, SMS alerts should only be sent to customers who specifically want the service, and that banks must stop billing other account holders for messages they never asked to receive.
The finance panel is expected to review compliance with the directive in a future session, as lawmakers continue examining broader complaints over bank fees affecting ordinary depositors.
