Taskforce for banking sector to start work in 10 days

Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur yesterday said the taskforce being formed for identifying areas of concern in the country’s banking sector will begin working within the next 10 days.
The work on forming this taskforce has progressed a lot, Mansur said while addressing a press conference at the central bank headquarters in Motijheel, Dhaka.
“The taskforce will work to assess the health of the banks. The Asian Development Bank will assist local banks in preparing their forensic reports. We can start work within the next 10 days,” he added.
Mansur further said that at present, they are closely observing banking activities in the country.
“Bank transactions are being verified daily and their cash flow is also being monitored,” he added.
Mansur informed that as a part of the central bank’s efforts to restore depositors’ trust, they have doubled the deposit insurance to Tk 2 lakh from Tk 1 lakh previously.
This means insured depositors will get back Tk 2 lakh from their deposit insurance if the associated bank becomes bankrupt.
And with 95 percent of depositors having around Tk 2 lakh in their accounts, this deposit insurance will ensure that a majority will get back their funds.
“No other country provides such security,” he said.
“Although there is no plan to declare any bank as bankrupt for now, this decision was taken to boost confidence among the depositors,” Mansur added.
Regarding the liquidity support for Exim Bank, Mansur said it was given the facility under the central bank’s previous plans.
“Now, no one will be given [such liquidity support],” he said.
However, the central bank will allow banks to borrow from each other to get liquidity support.
“In this case, the central bank will be the guarantor of those banks,” he added.
Regarding loans for small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs), Mansur said there has been stagnation in loan distribution in this segment.
The Bangladesh Bank has Tk 25,000 crores meant for disbursal among SMEs.
“But this money has not been disbursed due to some systematic problems. A flexible policy is needed to disburse the loans. We will try to ensure that small entrepreneurs get the funds,” he added.
Regarding allegations of account freezing, the governor said the central bank did not ask anyone, even the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit, to freeze the bank accounts of any individual or organisation.
“Even if someone commits irregularities, his institutional account will be kept open so that their business can run normally. Some people are carrying out a negative campaign in this regard,” he said.