KARACHI: Pakistan’s central bank on Wednesday said it is further strengthening its internal controls after a video went viral on social media, purportedly made by a bank staffer showing half-printed bank notes, sparking concerns among citizens. 

The video, recorded by a man who identifies himself as the manager of a National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) branch in Karachi’s Model Colony area, can be heard saying that his bank discovered misprinted notes after a customer returned them. He shows two notes of Rs1,000 in the video, which are blank from the backside.

The man says in the video that he had no idea how many faulty bundles of notes were received from the central bank. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) launched an investigation into the incident on Tuesday and subsequent inquiries revealed that ten misprinted banknotes were discovered in the consignment.

“No matter how robust and effective a manmade system is, it’s still susceptible to a margin of error, whether here or elsewhere including the developed jurisdictions,” the central bank said. 

It added that ten misprinted banknotes were insignificant compared to the total volume of notes that were in circulation nationwide.

“However, the internal controls are being further strengthened to avoid recurrence of such instance in future,” the SBP said. 

The SBP spoke about the rigorous quality control measures followed at the Pakistan Security Printing Corporation (PSPC), which is responsible for printing banknotes on the SBP’s behalf. The central bank assured the masses that misprinted banknotes are typically detected through these quality control measures. 

“The production processes of such large magnitude are prone to some imperfections,” the SBP said. “Therefore, there is a possibility that in spite of all quality checks, certain pieces of misprinted banknotes may end up with banks or public.” 

The central bank said that misprinted notes can be exchanged from any Office of the State Bank of Pakistan, Banking Services Corporation (SBP-BSC) across the country for fit banknotes. 

In January, the central bank initiated the process of designing and issuing a new series of banknotes for all existing denominations. This action is targeted at combating counterfeit currency and encouraging economic documentation.

Presently, the legal tender in Pakistan encompasses notes with denominations of Rs10, Rs20, Rs50, Rs75, Rs100, Rs500, Rs1,000, and Rs5,000.