The Central Bank of Uzbekistan will begin fining commercial banks for technical failures of ATMs and delayed refunds to customers starting August 6.

Regulator representatives announced this at a Senate meeting, noting that last year self-service devices recorded 291,000 failures, with financial institutions responsible in tens of thousands of cases.

According to the Central Bank, about 85% of incidents occur due to external reasons or user errors, such as incorrect PIN entry, lack of required denomination banknotes, or power and internet outages. However, in 46,000 cases, ATMs failed to dispense cash or delayed bank cards due to faults of the banks and payment systems themselves.

The tightening of measures was prompted by numerous cases of prolonged resolution of such problems. About 10,000 citizens waited for refunds for more than 15 days. Over 3,000 people were forced to file complaints with internal affairs bodies.

The Central Bank deemed this practice a violation of consumer rights and sent official warnings to commercial banks. Currently, Uzbekistan operates 45,300 ATMs and info kiosks — a third more than a year earlier.

Source: podrobno.uz