Karachi: The State Bank of Pakistan on Thursday has issued regulatory directives for all banks to deploy toll-free numbers at their call centres and ensure that they are prominently publicised at banks’ premises and websites, according to news sources.
Reportedly, the central bank executed a thematic review of the call centre management at the banks and has instructed the banks to ease the process of lodging complaints for customers. Among these directives, the banks have also been asked to reduce the call wait time to facilitate the customers. The call agents are now to provide a dedicated number for each complaint to be addressed properly.
Other instructions include that to protect the consumers’ privacy, the banks will ensure implementation of ‘adequate controls at their call centres including continuous CCTV vigilance, physical entry and exit checks, restriction on portable devices like cell phones, controlled accessibility to printers and emails’.
Moreover, the State Bank has instructed the commercial banks to mask the credit/debit card numbers so that the call agents can only see the last four digits of the cards.
Hazafa reveres the art of writing and has been turned into a property enthusiast by profession. Her daily survival kit includes; tea, coffee, keyboard and paperbacks.
