KARACHI: In order to further improve the process, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Tuesday issued the revised facilitation framework for Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Sahulat Account.
The revised framework will be adopted initially for onboarding BISP beneficiaries in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Quetta, Peshawar, Muzaffargarh, Muzaffarabad and Gilgit during the pilot phase. After of the pilot phase, scope of the framework, with adjustments, if required, will be extended to other cities/districts.
The framework requires all banks and Microfinance Banks (MFBs) to open accounts of the BISP beneficiaries enabling them to receive financial assistance directly into their bank accounts.
According to the SBP, during the pilot phase, BISP beneficiary accounts shall be limited mandate accounts primarily meant for receiving disbursements from the BISP. Based on the results of the pilot phase, SBP may consider allowing normal operations in these accounts as permissible under branchless banking level 1 accounts.
The banks shall recover all upfront and ongoing costs associated with account opening, issuance and maintenance of ATM cards, from the BISP and no such charges shall be levied on the BISP beneficiaries. However, the fee for issuance of replacement/duplicate debit/ATM Card, before its expiry, shall be recovered from the BISP beneficiary.
The banks shall establish a dedicated function for the purpose of information sharing and ongoing coordination with BISP including resolution of issues facing the BISP and its beneficiaries.
The banks shall arrange training programs for their employees to ensure facilitation to the BISP beneficiaries during the account/ ATM PIN activation and subsequent disbursement process.
The banks shall put in place mechanism for timely resolution of complaints of BISP beneficiaries and ensure 24/7 availability of customer support services.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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