The State Bank of Pakistan has said the bank accounts of overseas Pakistanis will not be closed during the next six months subject to the provision of valid passport copy, visa, exit stamps and resident permit in NADRA’s online system “Verisys”.
The Executive Director SBP told the Senate committee that more than 95% of bank accounts of overseas Pakistanis have been verified through the biometric mechanism and the rest of the accounts’ verification is in the pipeline.
He added that different instructions were issued to the banks through the Banking Policy & Regulations Department (BPRD) of State Bank of Pakistan, with regards to Biometric verification of non-resident Pakistanis, residents of Pakistan temporarily living outside the country and joint account holders where one account holder was temporarily outside Pakistan.
He said that the last date of biometric verification of bank accounts for overseas Pakistanis was June 30, but it was extended to facilitate the overseas Pakistanis whose families draw their remittances through ATM cards.
As a result of the closure of bank accounts due to the non-biometric verification, the overseas Pakistanis will alternatively look to transfer their money through “Hundi” and ultimately there could be a considerable decrease in foreign remittances which was US$21.84 billion during the FY 2018-19.