ISLAMABAD:
A meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance, chaired by Saleem Mandviwalla, on Wednesday expressed concern over consumer complaints over high fees charged by banks for messaging services.
During the meeting, Mandviwalla noted that consumers have expressed concern that banks are charging excessive fees for SMS alerts.
Chairman of Pakistan Banks Association Zafar Masud briefed the committee that customers pay fees to both banks and telecom companies for messaging services.
He stated that despite these charges, banks cannot fully cover their costs and together they incur expenses of approximately Rs 2 billion. annually.
Masud added that mobile operators charge about 60 paisa per call. SMS from consumers and impose significantly higher fees on banks.
“These fees are quite high,” he said, adding that digital banking applications do not charge consumers for messages.
State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Deputy Governor Inayat Hussain informed the committee that as per regulatory instructions, banks are required to send SMS alerts to their customers.
He revealed that banks collect approximately Rs 18.7 billion annually from consumers in SMS-related charges, while paying around Rs 25.6 billion to telcos.
According to Hussain, telcos charge banks almost five times more than they charge ordinary consumers. He further stated that the banks bear about Rs 7 billion annually from their own resources to meet these costs.
The committee directed the banks to provide complete details of charges related to regulatory and other notification services.
Meanwhile, Senator Abdul Qadir noted that banks earn profits of around Rs400 billion annually, so paying Rs7 billion in this regard should not be considered significant.
