Back in 2015, the state bank of Pakistan took the decision to recommend all banks of Pakistan to open bank accounts through a biometric verification system. At that time they didn’t make it mandatory, but in October 2018 SBP decided to make it compulsory for all the bank account holders for biometric verification. This decision was taken because FIA and JIT find many fake account holders. That is providing opportunities for easy money laundering and avoiding taxes and consequently harming Pakistan’s economy.
SBP’s take on account verification
To support Pakistan’s economy and discourage money laundering activities in the country this was a great initiative took by SBP. With this decision, thousands of account holders have verified their accounts. The last date for the account’s biometric verification was 30th June 2019. As the date has passed banks have started blocking non-biometrically verified accounts. Now those unverified fake account holders will be unable to make any transaction through their accounts. Although SBP didn’t announce to block unverified accounts, banks are taking adequate steps to follow the rules and maintain the bank accounts of their verified customers.
However, you can still verify your account as banks are still providing this facility who couldn’t verify their account before the final deadline. A representative of the national bank has said Over 3 million accounts have been shifted to the biometric system and approximately 80 percent account holders have completed the biometric verification process.” This was made possible by running telephone and letter notices campaigns to their customers. To provide this service banks remained open on Saturdays and Sundays as well.
Read more on: How to open a bank account in Pakistan
The output of the decision
With such strict action against the elimination of money laundering, the global ranking of Pakistan in Anti-Money Laundering (AML) has improved. In spite of the fact that this is an effective action taken by the central bank of Pakistan, but this has raised many questions especially by overseas Pakistani’s. We are not sure how those account holders will be able to verify their accounts. In case their accounts are not verified after the deadline, will they be able to use their account or they may also be blocked by banks.
