Commercial banks are facing “immense challenges” in clearing cheques manually as the online clearing services remain compromised after a cyber attack on the National Institutional Facilitation Technologies (NIFT) system on June 16.

The State Bank of Pakistan has sought a response from the NIFT regarding the cyber attack and possible negligence in the system, the spokesperson for the central bank said.

The central bank has requested the institution to submit a plan outlining future safety measures to prevent a recurrence of such events, he said, adding that the SBP is in constant contact with the NIFT officials.

On June 16, cyber attackers breached the security of NIFT, the cheque-clearing institution, gaining unauthorised access to data and forcing the banking system to shift to a manual system

A statement by a commercial bank said that the bank is encountering significant challenges as it is forced to clear cheques manually. It added that the banking system is overburdened due to the manual clearing of cheques as the compromised NIFT system is still not restored.

The NIFT officials have declined to respond despite repeated attempts. The officials have not disclosed how many users’ data has been breached.