THE Bangladesh Bank’s role as the custodian of the production and distribution of money and credit in the economy has been eroded by the finance ministry in the past decade. It’s not a common people’s remark. Rather, it came from a Director of the central bank while addressing a meeting of American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham) in the city on Tuesday. Director Aftab-Ul Islam said the finance ministry often forwards proposals for loan scheduling or for rescheduling even for four to five times. Sometimes, the BB Governor or the central bank board is ordered directly to do so; that subsequently makes the banking sector’s health very bad.
Dozens of bank loan scams, financial misappropriation, undue loan restructuring and rescheduling have occurred in the recent years but the central bank in almost all cases allegedly took the side of wrongdoers. The heist from the BB reserve with Federal Reserve Bank in New York is the unprecedented incident in the entire banking sector which is still uncovered, and no money is yet actually realised. The cyber heist happened at the moment when the figure of foreign remittance was expanding.
Now, there is a good chance to recover the money as several big borrowers are coming forward to clear their loans to get a clean chit from the Credit Information Bureau to contest in the general election.
In fact, our banking sector has got mired in growing loan irregularities that resulted in bad loan. Sonali Bank has failed to recover a single penny of Tk 3,500 crore gulped by Hallmark Group in 2013. BASIC Bank is facing severe capital shortfall due to shady loans of Tk 6,000 crore, given during the tenure of its previous Board of Directors led by its former Chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bachchu. Janata Bank is facing loan scam of over Tk 5,000 crore given to little known AnonTex Group. Famers’ Bank has repeatedly failed to honour cheque of depositors because of the cash crunch.
Rivalry between the Banking Division of the Finance Ministry and the central bank is a decade-old feature. But the central bank is the last resort of fixing banking irregularities. If the central bank got entrapped, the financial security would be withered. People want the perpetrators who swindle banks would get due punishment.
Dozens of bank loan scams, financial misappropriation, undue loan restructuring and rescheduling have occurred in the recent years but the central bank in almost all cases allegedly took the side of wrongdoers. The heist from the BB reserve with Federal Reserve Bank in New York is the unprecedented incident in the entire banking sector which is still uncovered, and no money is yet actually realised. The cyber heist happened at the moment when the figure of foreign remittance was expanding.
Now, there is a good chance to recover the money as several big borrowers are coming forward to clear their loans to get a clean chit from the Credit Information Bureau to contest in the general election.
In fact, our banking sector has got mired in growing loan irregularities that resulted in bad loan. Sonali Bank has failed to recover a single penny of Tk 3,500 crore gulped by Hallmark Group in 2013. BASIC Bank is facing severe capital shortfall due to shady loans of Tk 6,000 crore, given during the tenure of its previous Board of Directors led by its former Chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bachchu. Janata Bank is facing loan scam of over Tk 5,000 crore given to little known AnonTex Group. Famers’ Bank has repeatedly failed to honour cheque of depositors because of the cash crunch.
Rivalry between the Banking Division of the Finance Ministry and the central bank is a decade-old feature. But the central bank is the last resort of fixing banking irregularities. If the central bank got entrapped, the financial security would be withered. People want the perpetrators who swindle banks would get due punishment.
