According to FD circular Letter No. 03-/2017, upon successful completion of Phase-I currency management strategy, Phase II strategy is being implemented all over Pakistan with wider scope. In this regard, the SBP has revised reporting format that has been designed for banks to report status pertaining to phase-II of currency management strategy requirements and gauge the compliance of the SBP instruction.
The revised format has been issued for monthly reporting to monitor the implementation of currency management strategy for phase-II. The SBP has also advised all banks to send the monthly report before 10th of each month following the month of which the report pertains.
The State Bank in consultation with Pakistan Banks Association (PBA) developed and launched currency management strategy in 2015 aimed at ensuring availability of machine authenticated good quality banknotes to general public. For effective implementation of the strategy, commercial banks were also asked to streamline their prevailing currency management processes and automate the same in line with international best practices.
In addition, under the currency management strategy, for selection of cash processing machines, the SBP had already directed banks to finalize up to a maximum of three types (models) of machines that meet the SBP prescribed sorting/authentication standards and arrange a demo of the same at the SBP offices.
Under the strategy, the machine rejected banknotes categorized as suspected counterfeit will be surrendered to SBP-BSC for further examination along with the particulars of banknote(s) and name of branch from whose cash the banknote is detected within 48 hours of detection.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017