A number of the country’s citizens have complained about challenges and obstacles in accessing banking services in Afghanistan. They say that although they have bank accounts, they prefer to keep their money at home because of the difficulty of getting immediate access to cash, problems with ATMs, and a lack of trust stemming from past experiences of being unable to access their deposits. According to them, this situation has, on the one hand, increased the risk of theft and premature spending of money, and on the other hand, made it harder for them to save.
Alireza, a resident of Kabul, says that because of the difficulty of accessing money in emergencies, he prefers to keep his cash at home so that he can use it quickly if an illness or other problem arises.
He adds: “Because of the problems in the banking system in Afghanistan, we cannot access our money quickly and easily when we need it. Although keeping cash at home carries risks, including theft, I am still forced to keep my money at home. Once, my wife fell ill and was admitted to the hospital, but I spent two full days wandering around trying to get my money from the bank. That experience made me lose my trust in the banking system.”
Maryam, a resident of Kabul, says she has had a bank account for about five years, but an unpleasant experience of trying to access her money in an urgent situation has led her to stop saving money in the bank. She adds: “When I urgently needed my money, I went to the bank two days in a row, but the bank officials said they did not have cash available. At that time, despite my urgent need, I could not access my money. That experience made me stop saving any money in my bank account after that. Now I do not even know whether my bank account has been closed or not, because it no longer matters to me.”
Parwiz (pseudonym) says that because of the problems in accessing bank accounts and the overcrowding in banks, he prefers to keep his cash at home. He says: “It had been about four years since I had withdrawn money from my bank account. Because of the restrictions and excessive crowding in banks, I could not withdraw the amount of money I needed. Finally, after two days of running around, I managed to receive my money. After that, I decided to keep my cash at home so that I could access it in time when needed and so that my time would not be wasted in banks.”
Kawsar (pseudonym) says that keeping money in a bank can help people save more, because, according to her, cash kept at home gets spent sooner. However, the difficulty of easily accessing banking services has discouraged her from depositing her money in a bank.
She adds: “Although the culture of saving through banks has not yet become widely established in Afghanistan, many people do keep their money in banks, but distrust of the banking system has also grown. After the Taliban took control, for a period of time, people could not withdraw large amounts of money from their bank accounts. Even now, in case of an urgent need for money, it may take one or two days for them to access their money. For this reason, despite the risks of keeping cash at home, people prefer to keep their money at home.”
Kawsar says: “Since the Taliban took control, I have gone to the bank only once to withdraw money, and it came with many problems and hassles. From then until now, I have neither deposited money into my account nor withdrawn any from it.”
Meanwhile, some Azizi Bank customers said a while ago that the bank had not clearly informed them of certain conditions when they opened their accounts. They claimed that after using the banking services, they learned that fees were being deducted for ATM withdrawals and for monthly service charges. These customers asked banks to inform them transparently before charging any fees for services, so that they could make more informed decisions about how to manage and spend their money.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
بیاعتمادی به نظام بانکی؛ بیشتر شهروندان پولهایشان را در خانه نگه میدارند
