Remembering a legendary central banker

AKN Ahmed, who became a legend in the banking arena in his lifetime, passed away on February 24 last year in Washington DC at the age of 85.  His name may not strike a chord in the ears of the present generation of bankers, but the old timers remember him as one who stood head and shoulder above his peers. Indeed, his towering presence at the defining moments in the country's history reminds us of the inspirational leadership he provided to resuscitate the country's seriously ailing banking and financial sector.

He stepped into the enviable but often slippery seat of the Governor of Bangladesh Bank in 1974 when the country was literally seething with a litany of what looked like intractable problems. The nine-month war with Pakistan had laid the country's infrastructure and economic lifelines in shambles, the banking system was in complete disarray and foreign exchange reserve had all but evaporated. The devastating flood of 1974, escalating price of crude oil and food grains exacerbated the misery of Bangladesh.  

After joining as Governor of Bangladesh Bank, Mr Ahmed set himself to the task of rebuilding the country's fragile financial structure literally from the scratch. He particularly proved his mettle by initiating crucial measures for revamping the payment and banking system and strengthening the supervision of the banks, printing of new currency notes, and massive devaluation of the national currency. Among his other feats, one notable was demonetisation of higher denomination notes. He orchestrated the demonetisation process so smoothly and adroitly that it did not trigger the chaos and confusions of the kind recently witnessed in our neighbouring country. The government paid him rich tributes in writing for demonstrating his acumen for his role to rebuild the economy.   

It is said that leaders are born and not made. Mr Ahmed had in him the innate qualities of leadership that helped him to organise people to achieve seemingly difficult goals with consummate ease. He left his distinct footprints on wherever he worked in course of his long professional career as Executive Director, State Bank of Pakistan, Deputy Managing Director, Industrial Development Bank of Pakistan, Managing Director, Sonali Bank and Governor, Bangladesh Bank. Strict adherence to discipline had been one important hallmark that distinguished him from ordinary souls. Although soft in heart, he came down heavily on his charges for even a slight infringement of discipline.

He was serving as Chairman and Managing Director of Sonali Bank in 1974 when Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibar Rahman, dismayed by the chaotic situation in the banking sector, handpicked him for the post of Bangladesh Bank Governor to turn the situation around. Towards the end of his career Ahmed served stints with the World Bank and a multinational commercial bank. He even stepped into the complex world of diplomacy as Bangladesh Ambassador to Japan and South Korea.

Ahmed is particularly remembered for clarity of his ideas, deep insight, analytical ability and courage of conviction to swim against conventional thoughts, especially on complex economic phenomena.  He never hesitated to candidly express his thoughts in his own inimitable ways without caring for their bitter fallouts. His frank opinions often earned inevitable wrath of his detractors. After the traumatic events of 1975 they wasted no time to see him off from his favourite milieu of banking and finance in Bangladesh. In his own words, "In the end, after the assassination of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, I resigned as governor of the Bangladesh Bank when I came to the conclusion that it was no longer possible for me to serve in that capacity with clear conscience". (Random Thoughts).

It was not the first time that he fell out with the power that be. In 1971 he was interrogated in Lyallpur military camp for days together to force him to testify against Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in his trial there. He earned the wrath of the military court by refusing to implicate Bangabandhu who, in 1976, publicly acknowledged Ahmed's courage and sagacity.

The repertoire of AKN Ahmed achievements was not confined to the important positions he held. He squeezed time from busy schedules to churn out a prodigious amount of articles and books on diverse topics, ranging from central banking to world economic and political order, environment and technological changes. He demonstrated his versatility in penmanship by writing a book on Japanese culture and society. It earned him Alexander, the Great gold medal from the Institute of Oriental Philosophy, Soka Geiki University, Tokyo. Late in his life he even ventured into the world of philosophy and spiritualism and penned a number of poems dealing especially with the traumas he experienced at different stages of his life.  

One disquieting aspect of banking that agitated Ahmed's mind is the deterioration of its ethical standard. He literally took on the role of a lone ranger to launch a campaign for strengthening ethics in banking and contributed money and support to set up an annual lecture programme at the Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management. Unfortunately, his pleadings seem to have fallen on deaf ears as demonstrated by falling ethical standards, accumulation of financial resources in a few hands, usurpation of bank money by fly-by-night business people like Hallmark and Bismillah groups and, worst of all, skyrocketing of defaulted loans.   

Mr Ahmed, in one of his articles, warned against too much reliance on developing software without erecting a strong platform for developing hardware. The failure of the banking system to build adequate safeguards in their ATMs that led to a spate of frauds and forgeries in recent years followed by leakage of a staggering amount of the central bank foreign exchange reserve demonstrates how prophetic he had been in seeing these things coming.

While paying tribute to late Mr Ahmed on the occasion of the first death anniversary of this great soul, we join his grieving widow, Mrs Nilufer Ahmed and family members to pray for the salvation of his departed soul.   

The writer is a retired Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank.   

saali40@yahoo.com