NN Online:
Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Dr Ahsan H Mansur announced on Tuesday that the central bank will soon become fully autonomous as part of comprehensive banking sector reforms.
“The government has already taken the decision to turn the central bank into a full autonomous body. We are preparing. We hope that the proposal to this end will be submitted before the cabinet within two to four months,” he said.
He said this while speaking virtually as the special guest at a session titled “Macroeconomic Policy and Governance in the Banking Sector” of a conference at the BRAC Centre Inn Auditorium in the city.
Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) organised the two-day conference on “Recommendations by the Task Force on Re-Strategizing the Economy.”
Chairman of the National Bank and former president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) Abdul Awal Mintoo attended the session as the guest of honour while Director (Research) of the Chief Economist’s Unit of Bangladesh Bank Dr Md Salim Al Mamun, Managing Director and CEO of the Mutual Trust Bank Limited Syed Mahbubur Rahman, Chairman of the Global Islami Bank PLC Mohammed Nurul Amin, Professor and Former Chairman Department of Banking and Insurance University of Dhaka Dr Md Moin Uddin and Director General of the Bangladesh Academy for Securities Markets (BASM) Dr Toufic Ahmad Choudhury were present as distinguished discussants.
Executive Director of the CPD and Member of the Task Force on Re-Strategising the Economy Dr Fahmida Khatun and Member of the Task Force on Re-Strategising the Economy Dr Monzur Hossain delivered the keynote presentations.
In his speech, Ahsan H Mansur said they want to transform the central bank into a completely autonomous institution that will not be influenced by government machinery.
“We want to reshape the focus of the BB. We’ll leave the activities that are not core central banking. We’ll give utmost priority to issues linked with compliance, regulations and enforcement,” he added.
He said a new law titled “Bank Resolution Act” is being formulated to allow the Bangladesh Bank to legally apply corrective measures like mergers and acquisitions, liquidation, recapitalisation and consolidation of the crisis-ridden banks.
“Under the act, it will be possible to take policy decisions for merger, acquisition, liquidation or recapitalisation of any bank,” he added.
Dr Fahmida Khatun laid emphasis on creating a conducive legal and judicial environment in the banking sector to develop the country’s economy.
She urged the authorities concerned to ensure integrity and availability of timely data for improving the country’s business environment.
