THIS is with reference to the report `SBP eases account opening, pushes for digital inclusion` (July 27). Although a late realisation, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) initiative deserves appreciation.

It must have felt the pulse of the people who were being denied the facility of opening an account by banks on the flimsiest of grounds, putting all the blame on the regulators and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

The regulators would do well to take notice of the woes of the existing account holders who are being pushed to the wall, being asked to provide a long list of documents to prove their source of income, reactivate an account, and establish their identity through biometric verification.

Senior citizens seem to be the most affected;their accounts are eitherbeing unilaterally closed without intimation or threatened with closure.

Two individuals, who had been maintainingaccounts at abank branchin Islamabad for ages, had their accounts closed without any intimation or reason.

When the bank was asked to explain the cause, it simply said the accounts did not meet the requirements, but the specific requirements have never been disclosed.

In one case, the account was closed and the balance amount was transferred to the SBP as an unclaimed deposit, even though the account holder had visited the branch to carry out biometric verification a few months prior to the incident. The amount claimed has still notbeenrefunded.

In yet another case, a woman failed to draw funds through her debit card, and she subsequently came to know that her account had been closed about four months earlier, and that a banker`s cheque had been made out and was lying at the bank for collection. However, nointimation or reason was given for the account closure.

In another incident, a foreign bank, although courteous enough to intimate, threatened to close an individual`s savings account if it was not converted to Islamic banking by a certain date, citing the government`s announced plan to implement Islamic banking by Jan 1, 2028.

One fails to understand what is the rush when the deadline is still three years away? No one is willing to explain. It is time the regulators intervened in the matter.

Khaled Islamabad