A lot of ATM booths in the city were out of service due to insufficient funds and various technical problems recently. Banking sources said that during the nationwide strikes, bank managements were bound to stop cash deposit into ATM machines to minimise risk management factors. Talking to The Independent, Md Saiful Islam, manager of Pubali Bank Islamic Banking Branch, said that generally bank managements deposit cash into ATM machines on Sunday or mid-week if necessary, but they failed to deposit money due to the strikes and blockades.
Although cash carrying company vehicles have insurance coverage, they deliberately do not carry cash during the hartal period as per company policy, Saiful added. As a result, ATM booths of different banks run out of money during long spells of strikes. Moreover, it is very tough during shutdown periods to repair the ATM machines or deposit cash because of the high risk involved. Md. Nazrul Islam, deputy director of the Banking Regulation and Policy Department of Bangladesh Bank told this reporter that approximately 2500 – 3000 ATM booths are operating in the city. Among them, 30 per cent ATM booths are not working due to insufficient funds or other technical problems. “These problems may continue until the hartals or blockades end,” he predicted.
A Dutch-Bangla Bank card department official said seeking anonymity that banks always avoid high risk events for their safety, so they do not send any IT officer to repair the ATM machines during such events. Moreover, the cash carrying companies Group 4 and Securex were refusing to refill the machines considering their own security.
In some cases, ATM booths in bank premises enjoy depositing facilities through inter bank cash transfer which is instructed by the card department, but ATM machines outside bank premises are fully affected by the hartals, he said.
“Of approximately 3.1million debit card users across the country, 50 per cent are in Dhaka. We have at least 700 booths in Dhaka. But it seems that this problem will continue as long as a political unrest exists,” he added.
According to a BRAC bank official, they have almost 200 ATM booths and a good number of machines are currently operating without money or with other technical problems.
Abdullah Al Mamun, a card department official of The City Bank Ltd, said that they have 120 ATM booths in Dhaka city. “A good number of ATM booths have cash requisition but we failed to deposit cash for thecontinuous shutdowns across the country,” he said.
Symal Kumar Sadhu, an executive of ONE Bank Ltd said that around 50 per cent cash transactions of commercial banks are not executed during shutdown periods, but customers meet their cash demands by withdrawing cash from ATM booths because it is convenient for the customer to withdraw cash from an ATM booth.
Extra pressure is created on ATM booths to meet irregular customer’s demands for withdrawals as it is a safe method for them during the shutdown period, but this is also hampered due to continuous shutdowns.
-With The Independent input
