No business organisation's bank account has been frozen on central bank's orders, the Bangladesh Bank governor said Sunday while reaffirming a major banking-sector reform plan.
Dr Ahsan H. Mansur also said for boosting depositors' confidence in the country's banking system, the regulator doubled the volume of deposit insurance to Tk 0.2 million from Tk 0.1 million.
The enhancement in deposit-insurance scheme will help guarantee 94.60 per cent of depositors' money back in the event of any bank gets liquidated.
"There is no worry for the depositors who should be patient and keep their faith on the ongoing reform activities in the sector," the BB governor said at a press briefing held at the BB headquarters.
Deposit Insurance Systems is an institutional initiative of government for the protection of depositors' interests. If a bank or financial institution goes bankrupt or closes down or fails to return customer deposits, the issue of compensation arises.
Responding to a question, the central bank governor expressed his optimism that no banks or financial institutions would go bankrupt here, as the near-insolvent ones would get government support under the revamp policy.
"But the reality is that some 9-10 banks are on the verge of bankrupt situation. We're in an intensive programme with them. We'll go for merger if it is needed," Mr Mansur said.
He said they had initiated a holistic reform in the country's reeling banking industry in order to bring back depositors' confidence through reviving the sector.
As part of the reform recipes, says Governor Dr Mansur, also an eminent economist, the BB has planned to form three troubleshooting taskforces to address the challenges in the country's banking sector.
"I think the taskforces will be able to start their proceedings within the next 10 days," he said.
Alongside addressing the existing problems in the industry, the taskforces will also review the policies taken by the immediate-past government led by the Awami League and their implications.
"If the taskforce finds any policy that was formulated only for benefitting a certain group of businesspeople, they will take action to discard those," he said.
Regarding freezing of bank accounts, he said no accounts of business organisations were frozen on directives of the central bank.
"Be it any business organisation, they will continue as usual. The salaries of their officers and employees will be paid," he said.
Some people have spread misinformation that the BB blocked accounts of the business entities, but, perhaps, some banks themselves have done it on their own accord, he said.
Responding to another quarry, the governor hinted at potential modifications to the Banking Companies Act, if needed, to bring further order in the sector.
On the episode of the controversial S. Alam Group, Mansur clarified that Bangladesh Bank would not be liable for any issues arising from the purchase of the beleaguered conglomerate's assets--the responsibility entirely lies with the buyers.
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