New guidelines unveiled: SBP acts to address consumers' grievances

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Monday revised the guidelines on "Consumer Grievances Handling Mechanism" to provide banks' customers a fair mechanism for resolution of their grievances. Previously, in 20014, SBP released guidelines on dealing with customer complaints with an objective to provide banks' customers an efficient and fair mechanism for resolution of their grievances. Besides, it was expected that the banks would translate the customer experience into improved procedures and better services. According to BC & CPD Circular No 1 of 2016 issued on Monday, over the years, there has been significant improvement in handling complaints by the banks. Nevertheless, the level of robustness varies across the industry.