City based banking needs to change

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Banking in the context of Bangladesh, cannot be entirely divorced from the needs and principles of extending vital services in neglected areas or extending uniform facilities in the country to meet the requirements of equity and justice.
The private banks, so far, have concentrated in urban areas considering the returns from rural areas to be small. But they can possibly have a rethink in view of the very gainful experiences in terms of profits by the bank like operations of some NGO bodies in the rural areas. The private banks, of course, are not expected to emulate these NGOs by servicing their rural clients at cut throat interest rates. But there is very probably a market for them in the rural areas which they can explore to expand their own business gainfully while responsibly filling gaps in banking services in the rural areas.

Shahidul Haque
East Tsturibazar, Tejgaon, Dhaka.