Bangladesh Bank on Sunday asked the scheduled banks to inform their clients by sending SMS and email on mandatory basis if they stop their Automated Teller Machines and Pont-Of-Sale services due to unavoidable circumstances. The BB issued a circular to managing directors and chief executive officers of all banks in this regard asking them to ensure the operating process of their ATM and POS service round the clock.
The banks have to keep sufficient money in their ATM booths so that the clients can withdraw money at any time from the booths.
Besides, the banks have to place notice before the deactivated ATM booths, according to the circular.
A BB official said some banks were now frequently stopping their ATM and POS services without providing the clients with any notice.
‘Moreover, the clients usually plunge into difficulties due to the deactivated ATM booths. Some banks do not refill their ATM booths in due time which make crises for the clients’, he said.
The central bank circular also asked the banks to ensure the adequate security measure for their ATM booths so that the clients could use the booths without any trouble.
The country’s electronic and online-based transactions have recently attained much popularity in the country as the total number of credit and debit cards in the country’s banking system stood at 80,85,834 as of August 31, 2013, according to central bank data.
The figure has recently increased more, but the exact number of issued credit and debit card cannot be mentioned right now as the BB is yet to conduct any survey after August last year, the central banker said.
The clients use their credit and debit cards through the ATM and POS.
The total number of ATM booths stood at 5,232 in the banking sector as of August 2013. Of the booths, 1,359 were set up in 2012.
The BB survey report showed that 12 banks set up a total of 22,224 POS terminals.
The BB official said that the central bank had recently taken a number of initiatives to secure the transactions through the ATM and POS.
The BB will take punitive measures against the banks which will violate the central bank’s directives about the ATM and POS services, the official said.
-With New Age input
