FE Report
Finance Minister AMA Muhith said Sunday that it would take around 10 to 15 years to bring a radical change in the banking sector for which the government has already launched work.
"The pre-condition of bringing characteristic change of bankers is to enhance salary and to improve their moral standard. The government has started increasing salaries of bankers," Mr Muhith said at a media briefing after a purchase committee meeting held at the Cabinet Division.
The Finance Minister said the government has already increased salaries of government officials by 65 per cent and a move is underway to raise their salary further by another 62 per cent.
Referring to the recent Hall-Mark scandal and two robbery incidents that occurred in the Sonali Bank branches, Mr Muhith said the internal control system of the bank has been beefed up rapidly following the incidents.
"Loan forgery like Hall-Mark cannot happen again due to the latest internal control system," the Finance Minister said. A general manager of a bank has the capacity to approve loan amount worth maximum Tk 650 million. In the case of Sonali Bank, it was raised to Tk 25 billion, he pointed out.
Terming the negative impacts of extra monitoring and rigid internal control, the minister said the pace of normal banking activities will become slow.
Two robbery incidents took place at the Sonali Bank's Kishoreganj and Adamdighi branches on January 26 and March 8 this year respectively by digging tunnels to the vaults.
Besides, around Tk 30 billion were looted through loan forgery by the Hall-Mark Group until May 2012.
Salary hike needed for radical change in banking : Muhith
FE Team | Published: March 10, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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