I am getting use to pathetic banking system going on in Pakistan , and my recent experience with Askari Bank made it even worse . Ok first of all , who charge you money , to get money . None other than Askari Bank . If you are flying over to Pakistan with some dollar amount in your pocket , and you want to deposit it here then they will charge you 3.78% of whole amount as ‘‘cash handling charges’’ . It means for every 100 bucks you’ll have to pay 4 bucks to the bank . Now again if you want to withdraw some amount from bank then they will charge you again for some government tax .
Customer service is so lame that you feel like you are in some government office . Just for a small thing a poor banker will be running around in office to get permission from manager or what not . Not to mention most of the managers sit in office , talk on phone and enjoy chai .
Guys if you know ONE decent bank in Pakistan , please let me know . If anyone from Askari bank reading this - you guys seriously need to start working .
True . You’ll be amazed to know that this so called ‘‘world class banking’’ is still based on paper based banking . They still note down all the transactions in a register and they still maintain a list on a paper . They only use computers to tell you your account balance . ATM machines make sounds like Suzuki FX when you insert card . You are not even allowed to change your ATM PIN .
Namaan u can change ur PIN code in MCB, Alflah, UBL, HBL bcoz i have my accounts in these bank and know it …About Askari i ve to investigate … Some of the ATM machines are nice nice too but u r right in some banks its manual and sometime i wounder they will say here is the key now open the lower drawer and take our ur money
Askari Bank really is pathetic. Any bank would be, if guaranteed unlimited funding from 'Army Welfare Trust' and with generals sitting on board of directors, brigadiers heading business segments and colonels heading departments.
Although with a smaller network, Faysal Bank is good.
Askari Bank is not good at all ! I went there a couple of years back to open my account , they were so rigid and the rules .....omg ......I told myself to open anywhere else but askari.
My current salary account is with habib bank.........they are ok. Not even good but I haven't really seen them charging me anything extra.
I think all these new private banks like Faysal , Alfalah , Soneri , Standard Chartered etc are good.
^ I apparently know someone who has taken a loan from SCB and he is soo satisfied with their service , he says his salary goes straight to bank they cut the amount and in a day or two he gets the remaining salary.
Askari Bank really is pathetic. Any bank would be, if guaranteed unlimited funding from 'Army Welfare Trust' and with generals sitting on board of directors, brigadiers heading business segments and colonels heading departments.
Although with a smaller network, Faysal Bank is good.
Yaar I totally agree with you . Other day someone was telling me that I should apply in Askari Bank for a job , and I asked him what is their criteria and he was like you only need a reference from some army general and you can get a really good position there . I doubt I'll ever open a bank account with them ever .
Most of the people are recommending Standard Chartered . I think I should look into that one .
btw, do you know these fees are mostly "negotiable" if you are able to get hold of Branch Manager. In my last visit I was trying to open an account in MCB and teller was like you have to bring x,y,z papers and there is a fee for 2#$@%@#^%. I said, I am walking out. I am not doing business with you. Bank manager over heard the discussion and waved the fee and tonz of document requirements...
bechara Nami
Namaan u can change ur PIN code in MCB, Alflah, UBL, HBL bcoz i have my accounts in these bank and know it …About Askari i ve to investigate … Some of the ATM machines are nice nice too but u r right in some banks its manual and sometime i wounder they will say here is the key now open the lower drawer and take our ur money 
most of the time link down …Soneri & Chartered are cool