Among many, two recent reports on banking arena published in different media have deepened our concern where one shows that Tk 1.50 crore deposited by the clients of Adamdighis Chapapur Islami Bank Agent Outlet in Bogura is missing. Just two days later, another piece of terrifying news in almost all media on June 3 became one of the talks the country headlining --149 bhori gold that went missing from the locker of Islami Bank in Chattogram. The missing gold would amount to Tk 1.42 crore if they were18 karat in todays market, and Tk 1.74 crore in case of 22 karat. Be it the bank or the clients, both thealarming news not only makes extreme disappointment and anxiety among us, but also forms panic. I will discuss this in detail at the end. Before that I want to go back a bit. Being a teacher of literature, I know I may lack in the ideas on banking operations and their relevant disciplines, but I, of course, lack no interest in it. A regular glance at the financial pages of the newspapers does not leave me at least to know that some banks in the country, more or less, have been paralised and fragile today.
At the beginning of the year, in a bid to overcome this fragility of the banking sector, Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of the country, itself listed the countrys commercial banks as weak, strong or medium in different colors based on their financial strengths and standards taking different criteria into account. Though Bangladesh Bank took the initiative to reduce defaulted loans with a view to establishing good governance in the sector, for some banks such color division has become the color of Holi game, a popular and significant Hindu festival celebrated as the festival of colors, and for some banks it becomes the color of disgrace and stigma.
After the announcement, the conditions of weak banks marked by the central bank are going to the south as the depositors inclined to draw their deposits out of fear. ICB Islamic Bank, the bank that tried to mold its policy with new names in different phases, faces the first impact of it due to liquidity crisis as news readsthe bank is failing to pay even a small amount to its ordinary depositors.
Today, it is not only liquidity or financial crisis, but overcoming the crisis of clientsconfidence is now a big challenge for some of them. The second blow to these weaker banks came when the central bank advised the top brass of the institutions to merge theirs with stronger counterparts though many analysts differed from the policy of merger system the central bank suggested.To comply with the suggestions, many of them agreed to the merger process despite reluctance in some cases. In the journey, it is far from overcoming the crisis of confidence of weak bank customers, now they are suffering from their own identity crisis-which is why it goes like pouring water on a drowned mouse. Regular clients are suffering from the anxiety of withdrawing money from one bank and depositing it in another today or in the third bank next day thinking of security of their deposits, and as a result of which the central bank has now moved slightly away from the merger process decision.
Even before the pandemic, the banks that passed their youths with strong liquidity are running now from door to door of the clients and institutions to restore their image and customers confidence. Many of them are seen advertising attractive and high rate of profit or interest under various schemes to convince the clients. The picture of our banks in the past was not what we can see today. How did the banks go to the bottom? The pitfalls of long-term corruption-irregularity, loss of money and bad debt scams is now on their foreheads. Astute bankers can cite many reasons for this situation. And we who are among the mass can catagorise the reasons into two- one is internal while the other is external. In front of the arrow of the first reason are some dishonest officers, unscrupulous board members and owners of the bank. Since the Bangladesh Bank itself remained tight-lipped on scams,why should the bank officials disclose the names of culprits? Will they dig their own graves? Fortunately for the sake of the media, we are not left to know about who they are and why the regulatory bank shows its reluctance to divulge. And, at the forefront of the second tier are non-bank ill individuals, criminalised politicians and mafia gangs who are busy day and night trying to amass money manipulating banks staying aloof.
In 2014, the incident of theft of money in filmy style by making a long tunnel in Sonali Bank of Kishoreganj awakened us all. Its continuity is not over. One incident after another is happening with a phase. Evidence of the involvement of bank officials has also been found in many cases. However, before the last Eid-ul-Fitre, through the incident of Sonali Bank in Ruma, Bandarban, the incident of bank theft has now turned into a robbery. Just when the security of the money deposited in the bank arouses questions, the news of sudden missing of 149 bhori gold from the locker of Islami Bank in Chawkbazar, Chattogram has doubled the panic. Through this mishap fright has now entered the bank vault lockers from the bank accounts of the depositors. Customers hire bank lockers mainly to store valuable documents, papers, ornaments and essentials in order to ensure their valuables for maximum security. To have a clear idea about the bank lockers I talked to several bankers in my friend list. The essence of their words and the statement delivered by the manager of ChawkbazarIslami Bank before the media are identical. The process goes-each locker in the vault has two different keys. One remains with the bank authority and the other goes with the customer. Lockers cannot be opened without simultaneous use of two keys. As per rules, the in charge first uses his master key and then the customer opens the locker by inserting his key into the key hole (key slot). No officer of the bank is allowed to remain present at this time. The bank has no opportunity or option to know or see what the customer keeps in his locker. The customer locks (closes) the locker with the key he has at the end of the work. When the customer comes out, the bank official immediately closes the main gate of the locker room.
The bank authorities have already stated in written form that Islami Bank did not make any anomalies in locker management. On the other hand, the customer of the bank, Rokeya Akhter, filed a case against the four officials of the bank, blaming the authorities. Although one blames the other over the incident, in reality, either of them has made a mistake or resorted to trickery. My question is - If the security of the lockers is so tight, then how did Open Sesame Theory, the magical command used by Ali Baba to open the door of vault,work here? It is also a matter to unlock the fact whether the customer has intentionally or unintentionally or mistakenly made the missing in the locker. Apart from these two affiliations, whether there is a third external vicious circle is there or not also needs to be investigated. It is known that in view of this incident, on June 3, the central bank suddenly instructed to strengthen security in all banks. It is customary in our countrythat all want to lock the stable-door when the steed is stolen. Which supernatural theory the Bangladesh Bank, in fact, is applying to resolve the irregularities keeping the clients interests in mind is not clear. Against the backdrop, the way to central bank used by the journalists has now been made uneven sprinkling thorns. The regulatory bank cannot avoid the responsibility of any kind regarding anomalies or irregularities. It should be remembered that if the countrys banks are the wheels of the economy, then the steering is in the hands of Bangladesh Bank to control the speed of those wheels. Just as it is not desirable for a banks reputation to be tarnished through no fault of its own, it is also not desirable for customers to be embittered or harassed.
The writer is an Assistant Professor and Head, Department of English, Ishakha International University, Kishoreganj
