Business Desk :
An astonishing 36% of banks in Bangladesh still conduct their banking operations through manual documentation processes in the digital era, while 46% completely digitized their operations, according to a survey.
The survey was conducted among 41 of the banks in the country by the Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM).
Titled “Transformation and Restructuring of the Banking Sector in the New Normal: Bangladesh Perspective”, the research also showed that 12% of the surveyed banks were unable to conduct their meetings virtually even amid the Covid-19 pandemic, often citing lack of infrastructure.
However, 56% of the banks have been conducting their meetings virtually since the Covid-19 outbreak, while 32% met virtually during the peak of the pandemic, according to the survey.
Only 18% of the banks executed the Digital Documentation Management System (DMS) to gradually replace manual file processing.
Prof Shah Md Ahsan Habib of BIBM led the survey along with Prof Md Nehal Ahmed, Associate Professor Mohammed Sohail Mustafa, Assistant Professors Antara Zareen, Rexona Yesmin and Tofayel Ahmed.
Despite risks, 10% of the banks use in-person communications due to their large customer base and capacity limitations, the survey report also said.
In 2021, the rostering arrangement was reduced in 49% banks as both vaccine requirements were met by then, but in 2020, some 71% banks were run through the rostering process.
Some 13% banks in 2021 and 14% in 2020 ran the operations through mostly work-from-home arrangements, the survey found.
Another 17% banks could not adopt online account opening, automated challan system for fee-based transactions, and online transactions for payment of installments and other banking charges for clients as part of the digital transformation during the pandemic.
The BIBM study also said that there was no question that some of the most modern technological developments and associated techniques like using data analytics, artificial intelligence, and blockchain have huge potential to offer extensive benefits to their clients.
The survey also recommended that management of banks should set up their monitoring, capacity development, disclosure, and customer-protection arrangement to handle risks associated with their shadow banking activities and elements.
The paper stated that transformation and restructuring processes in the banking industry require huge investment not only in technology but also in human-resource development.
