Economic Reporter :
Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman on Tuesday called upon the Financial Institutions (FIs) to work for protecting customer’s right.
“A financial system can protect consumer rights if it can offer transparency, appropriate choices, redress mechanisms and privacy of consumer information”, said the governor while addressing a seminar on “Protection of Consumer Rights in Banking and Financial Sector of Bangladesh” at Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) in the city.
Financial Integrity and Customer Services Department (FICSD) resolved almost 100 per cent customer complaints in FY2015, said Atiur Rahman.
BB is relentlessly working to protect customer’s right. The central bank established a full pledged department named Financial Integrity and Customer Services Department (FICSD) to protect the interests of customers, improve banker-customer relationship and ensure the standard of customer services of the banks and financial institutions. Now any person/ customer can lodge complaints and ask any question to the FICSD through dialing 16236, said Atiur Rahman.
BB has also strengthened requirements for disclosing standardized, comparable pricing information on financial products. As a result, consumers have the scope to know simplified, adequate, and comparable information about the prices, terms and conditions, and inherent risks of financial products and services. Financial statements of all banks are now prepared in accordance with Bangladesh Accounting Standards (BAS) and Bangladesh Reporting Standards (BFRS), said the governor.
Consumer consciousness is however of utmost importance to protect their rights. In this perspective, I would like to emphasize on two issues. One is financial literacy and the other is demand driven research. Bangladesh Bank firmly believes that financial knowledge is a key to protect consumers’ rights, also said Atiur Rahman.
Former Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled presented a key note paper.The paper mainly highlights on issues like customers’ satisfaction, service charges, rate of profit and security of deposits.
Director General of BIBM Prof Dr. Toufic Ahmad Choudhury also spoke on the occasion.
Consumers’ Association of Bangladesh (CAB) President Golam Rahman presided over the seminar.
