Since the state-owned banks get budgetary support to meet their liquidity shortage, they should come forward to salvage their troubled peers, Prime Minister's economic advisor Dr Mashiur Rahman said on Saturday.
"Banks are getting budgetary support to meet liquidity shortage. Fiscal strength is really helping banks," he said.
Private commercial banks should also join hands with their state counterparts to support lenders mired in cash crunch, he added.
The advisor's views came at a programme, where the logo of now defunct Farmers Bank, renamed Padma Bank, was unveiled at a hotel in the city.
In May last, the government-owned Sonali Bank, Janata Bank, Rupali Bank, Agrani Bank, and Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) injected Tk 7.15 billion of capital into the then Farmers Bank to help it overcome financial stress.
Dr Rahman said Bangladesh would have much higher amount of investible resources than it has now if resources had not been laundered out of the country.
He said the country has been proved incorruptible as "mighty" World Bank could not prove the corruption allegation it brought against the country in a Canadian court.
"Now investors should come here and invest in the incorruptible country," he said.
Rupali Bank managing director Ataur Rahman Pradhan echoed, saying private commercial banks should come forward to helping Padma bank.
"We came to help Padma Bank as directed by the government. Private bank should also join. Padma Bank still has a capital shortfall of Tk 10 billion," he said.
Dogged by irregularities, Farmers Bank has been rechristened as Padma Bank in a makeover move following an approval from the central bank on January 30 this year.
Farmers Bank, a fourth generation bank, launched its operations in 2013 but was plunged into a deep crisis within four years of its inception.
Speaking at the programme, the bank's managing director Ehsan Khasru said that it was an "absolute necessity" to rename the bank.
"The name Farmers had a very bad reputation and market perception was very negative," he said.
He also said the bank's activities were not even closer to farmers and branches were located in city areas which was confusing.
As part of a makeover plan, he said he will try to slash the bank's classified loan by 20-40 per cent by the end of this year.
Secretary of the Financial Institution Division of the Ministry of Finance Md Asadul Islam said Padma Bank should remember what they promised in its makeover plan.
He also expressed the hope this bank cannot be doomed into failure since CEOs of most state-owned commercial banks sit on its board.
Padma Bank chairman Chowdhury Nafeez Sarafat, Sonali Bank CEO Obayed Ullah Al Masud, Janata Bank CEO Abdus Salam Azad, and Agrani Bank CEO Mohammad Shams-ul Islam, among others, spoke at the logo unveiling ceremony.
Currently four state banks and one state-run financial institutions control as much as 68 per cent shares of Padma.
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