Qaumi Bachat Bank IT Outage Halts New Investments, Delays Digital Prize Bonds

The Qaumi Bachat Bank, also known as the National Savings Center, has been grappling with a major IT system failure for more than ten days, disrupting services for millions of customers across Pakistan.

According to reports, the technical breakdown has brought all new investments in savings schemes to a standstill and postponed the much-anticipated launch of digital prize bonds. Nearly 3.5 million account holders, including pensioners, have been directly affected, facing difficulties in accessing essential services.

Both the ATM cards and the mobile application introduced for online transactions are currently non-functional, while the biometric verification system is also down. This has led to a suspension of new investments and transactions.

Officials at the National Savings Center assured that “regular payments to account holders are being made without interruption despite the system issues.” They further confirmed that technical teams are actively working to restore operations and expect the system to be back online soon.

The bank had been preparing to roll out digital prize bonds in denominations of Rs. 5,000, 10,000, 25,000, and 40,000, but the plan has been delayed due to the outage.

The prolonged disruption has sparked concerns among investors and savers about the reliability of financial services provided by public institutions, highlighting the urgent need for modernization and robust digital infrastructure.