Telenor Pakistan Media Clarification
Islamabad, November 05, 2009: Recently, media has reported that IESCO and LESCO have asked their customers to not deposit their bills at Tameer bank’s easypaisa retailers. IESCO and LESCO have taken the position that they do not have an agreement with Tameer bank for bill collection through this channel.
Tameer Bank has a contract with KASB authorizing it to collect bills and deposit them through KASB’s aggregator service. Tameer Bank entered into an electronic bill collection arrangement with KASB Bank under their “eUBS” service in 2007. This Service Level Agreement was enhanced in February 2009 to cater for its Branchless Banking approval. The channels covered under this arrangement include IVR, ATM, Call Center, POS and other Over the Counter (OTC) modes. We would like to highlight that all utility companies, which have electronic billing arrangements with KASB have been made available to member banks as well. Therefore, Tameer Bank rightly availed this electronic collection under its umbrella agreement with KASB.
As per contract, KASB is responsible for all negotiations and arrangements with utility companies, and we are asking them to resolve this issue with IESCO and LESCO as soon as possible.
In the interest of our valued customers, Tameer Bank and Telenor Pakistan have decided to temporarily suspend the service from IESCO at easypaisa merchants. This service will be resumed as soon as the agreement issues between IESCO and Tameer Bank are resolved.
Tameer Bank and Telenor Pakistan would like to reassure all easypaisa customers who have already paid their IESCO and LESCO bills that their amounts have safely been deposited with the relevant utility companies. Furthermore, our dedicated helpline, 111-345-100 is available 24/7, to address any customer concerns related to easypaisa or previous transactions. Customers are requested to contact with their transaction ID.
About Telenor Pakistan
The Telenor Group is an international provider of high quality tele, data and media communication services with mobile operations in 13 markets across the Nordic region, Central and Eastern Europe and in Asia. The Telenor Group is among the largest mobile operators in the world with over 172 million mobile subscriptions and a workforce of more than 40,000. Telenor Pakistan is 100% owned by Telenor ASA and adds on to its operations in Asia.
Growth comes from truly understanding the needs of people to drive relevant change.
About Tameer Bank
Tameer Bank, a fast growing microfinance bank licensed by State Bank of Pakistan in August 2005, rated A- (single A minus) and A-2 (A two) by JCRVIS, has a current network of 31 on-line branches and 35 on-line sales & service centers across Sindh and Punjab. It has given new complexion to the microfinance sector by induction of innovative technology driven financial services to the under-served population through choice of bank tellers, ATM machines and Point of Sale (POS) terminals. Its product set includes loans, deposits, overdrafts, insurance, payments and domestic remittances. Since inception, Tameer has disbursed more than Rs 3.5 billion with an active portfolio of Rs. 1.4 billion and over 70,000 loan customers with delinquency trend of under 2% supported with a deposit base of more than Rs 940 million. The total customer base of Tameer has crossed 145,000 with staff strength of 1,100.
Read more about Tameer Bank at www.tameerbank.com