Disruptions in the banking network grow as the Iranian New Year approaches and the number of physical and virtual visits to the bank portals increase, Tasnim news agency reported.
The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) had called on commercial banks to be prepared for common yearend exigencies several months in advance, but the growing number of visits to the physical branches indicates that none of the banks are fully ready to provide the needed services to their clients.
Disruptions in internet and mobile bank portals, ATMs, and point-of-sales (POS) terminals in the shops are among the major problems that have annoyed clients.
Despite the fact that delivering POS services are important, several officials are of the opinion that this issue has been plaguing electronic banking services, according to Mehr news agency.
Customers still do not completely trust the services and CBI officials believe that the number of such terminals in shops should decrease.
All POS systems are connected to Shaparak (Iran’s electronic card payment system). According to the CBI data “99.3 percent of the overall 59 million transactions registered with Shaparak have been successful.”
On Saturday, the CBI announced a plan for receiving transaction fees from POS terminal holders might be implemented in the next year, beginning March 21.
The plan was widely criticized by shopkeepers earlier in the year when the CBI said it was about to implement it.
According to CBI’s head of communication and information technology, Nasser Hakimi, the CBI has submitted a confidential report to the Money and Credit Council on the issue.
The CBI has put forth 12 different criteria that need to be considered in setting fee limits. The complex algorithm will take into account the number of transactions, types of shops, and transaction worth, among several other factors. No clear numbers for the fees have been announced so far.
Seemingly, the MCC will have to decide the issue in the coming year.
