Joint efforts of financial sector, media and regulators can tackle fake news

Regular coordination among bankers, regulators and media personnel is needed to ensure authentic flow of information that will help avoid dissemination of fake or engineered news, experts said at a seminar on Sunday.
They called upon reporters to play a role in spreading the financial literacy as Bangladesh is placed at the bottom of the global ranking.
They made the call at the dialogue titled 'The Banking and Financial Sector Reform; the Roles of Media and Press Freedom' at the Jatiya Press Club in the afternoon.
Bangladesh Express, an English daily, and Bangladesh Journalist Foundation for Consumers and Investors (BJFCI) jointly organised the dialogue marking the 30th anniversary of publication of the daily. Planning Minister MA Mannan was present at the event as the chief guest while Editor of Bangladesh Express Faruk Ahmed chaired the event.
Planning Minister MA Mannan said there were few groups who were spreading engineered news with a purpose often hurting policymakers.
Giving the example of foreign currency reserve, the minister said some people took it very seriously and were feeding news in such a way that the economy was going to collapse.
"Reserves will sometime go up and sometime it will decline, it is normal but some quarters spread engineered news about it," he added.
Chairman of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) Professor Shibli Rubayat Ul Islam said there was a group of people who spread fake or fabricated news on online platforms like YouTube and Facebook to get more views for getting financial benefits.
As a regulator, he said, they executed more than 200 types of work over the last three years as part of the market development and reforms. "We supplied Tk 110 billion by issuing bonds over the last one year and the market cap now has risen to Tk 7.75 trillion from Tk 3.25 trillion," he said.
Former chief executive officer of Sonali Bank Limited Md Ataur Rahman Prodhan said officials of the regulatory bodies after their retirement often joined the institutions where they imposed regulations.
"It is very unfortunate and it is hampering the process of fair reporting. It needs to be stopped immediately," he added.
Professor of Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) Dr Shah Md Ahsan Habib said Bangladesh was currently ranked at the bottom of the global ranking in terms of financial literacy and the reporters could play a vital role in raising the rate.

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