Remove dishonest people from state banks: BB chief
Central bank resolves 96pc of complaints against banks
The central bank yesterday came down heavily on the boards of state banks for failure in running the institutes.
Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman said the efficiency of the boards in running the banks must improve.
"We hope the government will appoint honest people and remove inefficient and dishonest ones," Rahman said at the launch of the annual report on customer complaints.
The governor's comments came just a day after AMA Muhith, finance minister, admitted to the directors' failures in these banks.
Of the state-run banks, Sonali was the first to surface with the big news of a Tk 3,500 crore scam with Hall-Mark and five other companies.
BASIC Bank also made headlines after the central bank detected irregularities worth over Tk 4,500 crore.
Irregularities have pushed these banks' non-performing loans to several times higher than the industry average.
In the report, the central bank resolved about 96 percent of customer complaints lodged against banks and non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) in fiscal 2013-14, which was just 68 percent in the previous year.
The Financial Integrity and Customer Services Department, a newly established division in BB, prepared the report.
“The central bank's monitoring and banks' proactiveness helped us resolve complaints faster,” SK Sur Chowdhury, deputy governor of the banking regulator, told The Daily Star.
Rahman said he is also thinking about appointing an ombudsman to address BB's internal problems, irregularities and corruption.
The report showed that BB received 4,476 complaints in 2013-14 against scheduled banks and non-bank financial institutions; 4,291 were resolved.
BB got 4,296 complaints in the previous year; 2,941 were addressed. In 2011-12, only 2,526 complaints were lodged and 2,370 cases were resolved.
Of the top 10 banks that the central bank received the most complaints, four are state-owned and six privately-owned.
The highest number of complaints – 291 – was lodged against state-owned Sonali Bank, followed by Janata with 186 and Agrani 185.
The highest number of complaints -- 152 -- were lodged against Islami Bank Bangladesh, followed by Prime Bank with 146, Brac Bank 135 and Mercantile Bank with 129, among the private banks.
The report showed that most complaints were on general banking issues, followed by loans in advance, mobile banking, trade bills and remittance.
The governor also asked banks and NBFIs not to harass customers.
The BB has issued a guideline on customer services and complaint management to help banks and NBFIs deal with their customers properly, he said.
The Financial Integrity and Customer Services Department will strictly monitor and supervise banks' services, Rahman added.
The governor said more and more people are coming into the banking channel, and the number of accounts reached nearly 10 crore till date.
About 1.33 crore accounts were opened with just Tk 10 and 1.75 crore accounts were opened with mobile banking services.
News:The Daily Sun/23-Sep-2014
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