Biometric verification has been made mandatory for opening a new bank account and using ATMs by the State Bank of Pakistan. This applies to all private and government banks and will be in effect from January 2016.
All ATMs in the country will soon be fitted with biometric scanners to get the finger impressions of people using ATM cards to withdraw or transfer cash.
The decision comes from the Federal Investigation Agency, which has seen an increasing numbers of cases related to electronic crimes, fund transfers to terrorist outfits, general misuses of bank account and ATM card fraud.
The move will also help eliminate fake bank accounts as well as tax evasion.
The whole process is expected to start from January 2016. Banks would have to get fingerprints of customers before they open an account and existing bank account holders would also have to go through the process.
The arguments put forth for this move are more or less the same as the ones used for biometric verification of mobile SIMs. It remains to be seen how much it will cost, how much time it will take and whether it’s an effective strategy to combat electronic fraud.
Good decisions but the evil always find alternative ways.
it may cause problems as sometimes u can’t visit ATMs urself for transaction
ATM will not match fingerprints with account holder. just note down the prints
fingerprints will be matched of course. fingerprint is an authentication and authorization tool.
senior citizens have not been able to bio metric verify there sims and they have had to get the sim in the name of some other family members { happened with 2 people in the family)
also there is the issue of people whose finger prints have degraded with time such as masons/or people who use their hands in hazardous jobs. there should be an alternative …. Retinal scan is an option….. finger print will work for the masses but for the select few how will they be catered
V True
not necessary
Your comment was unnecessary
same as you
not comment but you
So much reliance on an incompetent, insecure, farcical NADRA. We will pay for that, dearly, one day. How about spanking NADRA first. Havent we seen the circus during sim verification drive?
Why is government cracking nuts and bolts of general public all the time? Such measures were NEVER taken in Kashmir, even Afghanistan. What a joke we are.
bro, we are ruled by idiots. Our policy makers are dumb with IQ level lower than 0. With such useless verification process, foreign ATM cards will be useless and can not be used at any ATM as those won’t have fingerprints recorded.
cards issued in pakistan have separate BINs and foreign cards have separate BINs so it can be easily managed.
Ye bahut acha decision hay but old age logon ka kia hoga, jesa k mere Uncle jin k thumbs & Fingers k nishan mit gay hain aur wo sim verification bhi nahin krwa skey, even thumbs & Fingers re-verified by NADRA ???. wo business man hain aur daily kai (Several) Bank Transactions hoti hain.
Such people would have to issued special cards with no requirement for fingerprint verification. there could be various ways banks can devise such processes.
hmmm… what about people with no hands? Can someone share on how the bio-metric worked for disabled?
Such people would have to issued special cards with no requirement for fingerprint verification.
Thank you Shariq for explaining.
Good move to eliminate fake accounts. However people aged 60 and above should have relaxation.
Today i saw biometric machine fitted at al baraka bank atm in barkat market lahore and i didnot use that atm since it could have been a fraud. Anyways the worst thing is this is most idiotic idea ever . During sim verfication i had to wait 3 hrs cuz nadra link went down . So this would now we not only got to have atm link to 1link active plus we wud be dependent on nadra too and on average franchise people told me its down 4-5 hrs . That means disablig atms 4-5 hrs eah day
thats a very valid concern !! But in this case the normal verification should work bypassing the fingerprint verification and the report of such transactions could then be submitted to authorities for their record. phir FIA janay aur NADRA janay..
Good decision but sometimes we don’t have time to visit atm then we send any other, this system will create problem.
Thats illegal in the first place. you should get that person a supplimentary card if you trust him and you dont have time yourself.
Good move. Every new step taken by our policy makers confirm that the lives of people should be made more miserable.
Now foreigners won’t be able to use ATMs to receive cash as they won’t have their thumbs recorded at “Maai NADRA”.
What’s the point of ATMs then if foreigners can not use their bank cards in this country?
Foreign cards have separate BINs so banks can easily manage to skip them for fingerprint verification.
when u can get a fake ID from Nadra for an afhghan national (ARY latest stig operaration) what sense is there to use nadra for verification anyways. yes nadra will make Rs. 10 per transaction..
Great decision
This decision is not good, if someone can not reach ATM be himself how can he withdraw a small amount(now time to fill check:crazy)????
Totally Failure!
Tax on amount greater that 50k and now biometric verification for ATM(huh).
If the same things will going on, then one day they will also install biometric verification on Public toilets =D
Chill guys, This is just a mis-confusion spread by the author of this article @Syed Talal.
Check this original circular link issued by SBP:
http://www.sbp.org.pk/bprd/2015/CL13.htm
Read it carefully if you know English, there is no single word of biometric ATM’s used in this circular.
here is the specific point they instruct banks:
“3. Further, banks/DFIs are advised to make use of bio-metric technology at the branch level for verification of particulars of prospective customers. Installation of bio-metric machines at branches should be completed by December 31, 2015.”
So basically they instruct to install bio-metric machines at branches to verify of particulars of customers not bio-metric ATM’s.
I also talked to one of VP of SBP and he told me that they didn’t instruct banks to install bio-metric ATM’s by Dec 31, 2015 and if any bank wish to install it by its own they can.
So guys stop speculating this false story and also the author of this article should apologize to all and tell that he told false story.
Regards,
Nommi