Banking Mohtasib Won Customers Rs 1.2 Billion Back From Banks in Nine Months

If a bank has ever wronged you — an unauthorised debit, a charge you never agreed to, a fraud case your branch shrugged off — the numbers are now in: the Banking Mohtasib Pakistan resolved 29,001 complaints in customers’ favour during the first nine months of 2026, securing refunds and relief worth Rs 1.2 billion, according to an official statement from the office issued in Karachi this week.

The office received 33,625 new complaints between January 1 and September 30, including 5,927 submitted through the Prime Minister’s Portal. The message is clear: the country’s banking ombudsman is not a paper institution — it is returning real money to account holders, and the caseload keeps growing.

The numbers behind the Rs 1.2 billion

The 2026 figures continue a steady upward trend in both complaints and relief granted. Here is how this year’s nine-month performance compares with earlier periods reported by the Banking Mohtasib office:

Two things stand out. First, the volume of complaints decided in customers’ favour has jumped sharply — 29,001 in nine months of 2026 versus 18,836 in the same stretch of 2024. Second, the value of relief follows the same curve, which suggests not just more cases, but larger individual claims.

Why complaints are rising

The growth in grievances mirrors the transformation of Pakistani banking itself. More accounts, more ATMs, more debit cards — and above all, the rapid spread of mobile banking — have multiplied both legitimate transactions and the avenues for fraud.

Banking Mohtasib Sirajuddin Aziz used the announcement to repeat a warning he has issued before: customers must protect their financial information, keep bank account details private, and never share credentials with third parties. He advised customers not to click on links received on their mobile phones unless the source is verified as authentic, and to immediately contact their bank’s helpline on receiving suspicious calls — then report the incident, including the phone numbers involved, to the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA).

The advice is not abstract. Fraud-driven complaints are a major share of the ombudsman’s workload, and the office has repeatedly held banks liable in online fraud cases — including a ruling this July that made a bank compensate a customer who lost Rs 1.76 million to an unauthorised transaction. Years earlier, then-President Arif Alvi upheld the Mohtasib’s orders directing banks to credit back funds lost through internet banking facilities that had been activated without customers’ consent.

How the system works — and how to use it

Many Pakistanis do not know the Banking Mohtasib exists, or assume the process costs money. It does not: the service is free of charge, and complainants do not need to hire a lawyer. The office handles disputes ranging from fraudulent transactions and unauthorised charges to delayed services and general banking maladministration.

Steps to file a complaint

1. Complain to your bank first. Banks are the first forum for redressal and handle the vast majority of grievances directly. The State Bank of Pakistan’s own review found banks resolve the bulk of complaints internally, with only a small fraction escalated further.
2. If the bank does not resolve it, escalate to the Banking Mohtasib. The office runs an online portal where complaints can be registered directly, and it maintains regional offices in Lahore, Peshawar, Quetta, Rawalpindi, Multan, Faisalabad and Muzaffarabad, plus its secretariat in Karachi.
3. You can also approach through the Prime Minister’s Portal. Nearly 6,000 of this year’s complaints arrived that way, showing the digital route is increasingly popular.
4. Document everything. Keep records of transactions, call logs, SMS alerts and any correspondence with the bank. The office decides most cases through reconciliation and formal hearings.

One practical note: the ombudsman’s jurisdiction now covers digital banks too, as the Banking Mohtasib confirmed last year — relevant as Pakistan’s branchless and digital banking sector expands.

The bigger picture for consumer protection

The State Bank of Pakistan has been steadily tightening the screws on banks over consumer treatment. A regulatory framework it has been developing would, among other things, require banks to compensate customers for losses from data breaches within two business days and to strengthen fraud reporting and internal accountability. Against that backdrop, the ombudsman’s rising relief figures are both a symptom — more consumers being wronged — and a sign that the redressal machinery is working.