Banks in Pakistan have commenced charging unannounced fee on cash withdrawal receipts from ATMs.

According to a bank customer, Rs 2.5 was charged for choosing to receive the receipt and the customer got aware about the fee through making a phone call to the bank after receiving a message regarding the fee.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has not issued any notice to the commercial banks regarding the implementation of fee .

A spokesperson of the central bank said, “However, the banks have the right to charge against services on the condition that the charges do not contradict any of its (SBP) directives.”

Moreover, “Despite the availability of other banking facilities on ATMs, they are mostly used for cash withdrawals in Pakistan as evident from the transactional data … In total, cash withdrawals through ATMs have the highest share of 96% by volume,” stated the central bank report.