Bangladesh Bank is going to open Consumer Interest Protection Center (CIPC) cells in all its branches and the head office to improve the quality of banking and financial services and to protect consumer interests.

BB Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman will formally open the center at its head office in Dhaka on January 19.

Talking to daily sun, Swapan Kumar Roy, Assistant Director of the CIPC and Deputy General Manager (DGM) of Vigilance Department of BB, said the objectives of setting up such centres was to turn the banking and financial services more humanistic, ensure improvement of financial services and to protect the interest of the customers strictly.

As all the commercial banks have already set up a complaint centers at their headquarters and branches complying BB directives, he said.

Now the central bank would monitor whether the complaint centers of the banks are working actively and replying properly to the complaints lodged by the customers, he added.

Roy also said with the expansion of banks and financial institutes, the number of banking clients has increased a lot, and some of them can usually be harassed or deprived of their rights. In such cases, CIPC centres will be entitled to ensure justice to the clients in any corner of the country, he added.

He pointed out that there may have some dishonest officials in the banks who misguide clients to serve their ill motivations, undermining commercial banks’ reputation. In such cases, commercial banks by themselves should open CIPC type of centers or cells to have complains against those corrupt officials, said the BB official.

BB will also open a number (16236) to call for lodging complaints or having any sorts of banking services from anywhere in the country.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 12th Jan 2012