Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury on Wednesday said a severe crisis has gripped the country's banking and capital markets, as well as other key sectors, due to weak economic management, lack of financial discipline and ineffective regulatory oversight.
He stressed that there is no alternative to transparency and accountability to stabilise the economy, adding that financial sector institutions had become largely ineffective over the past few years.
"We are now standing at a crossroads. Which direction the country takes from here depends on how our institutions function," he said while speaking as chief guest at the "Financial Accounting and Reporting (FAR) Summit 2026" held at Hotel Sonargaon in Dhaka.
The summit was organised by the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB) and the Institute of Cost and Management Accountants of Bangladesh (ICMAB), focusing on corporate governance and macroeconomic stability.
The minister said accurate financial reporting and credible audits were essential for restoring trust in the economy. However, he claimed the country's auditing and reporting ecosystem had "almost collapsed", leading to incidents such as loan fraud, money laundering and the listing of questionable companies in the capital market.
He added that in several cases, companies entering the stock market through misrepresentation had grown into large entities, discouraging transparent and compliant firms from listing.
Khasru also pointed to a growing capital shortage in the private sector, saying even some successful companies and banks were facing severe funding constraints due to defaulted loans, money laundering and fund misappropriation involving collusion between boards and management.
He questioned the current structure of bank ownership, saying that shareholders and depositors are the true stakeholders, and that governance must reflect that reality rather than allowing concentrated control over lending decisions.
Referring to his tenure as Commerce Minister, he cited the example of delegating responsibility for issuing Utilisation Declaration (UD) certificates to the BGMEA, saying the association had successfully handled the task. He argued that similar responsibility should be entrusted to professional bodies to strengthen oversight of member activities.
On foreign investment, the minister said major global fund managers and investment institutions are showing renewed interest in Bangladesh, naming firms such as JP Morgan among those expressing intent to engage with the market.
Finance Secretary Dr Md Khairuzzaman Majumdar presided over the programme, while FRC Chairman Dr Md Sajjad Hossain Bhuiyan presented the keynote paper. Prime Minister's Finance and Planning Adviser Dr Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir and BGMEA President Mahmud Hasan Khan Babu were also present, among others.
