Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman on Saturday said that like the media the country’s financial institutions also faced pressure from influential quarters in their day to day decision making.
‘Financial sector institutions and their regulators also face pressure group influences from diverse directions in their day to day decision making,’ he told the inaugural session of a training course on economic reporting organised at a city hotel.
Eastern Bank arranged the training programme in cooperation with Bangladesh Bank.
BB deputy governor SK Sur Chowdhury, The Financial Express editor Moazzem Hossain and Eastern Bank managing director and CEO Ali Reza Iftekhar and director Mir Nasir Hossain also spoke on the occasion.
Atiur said the media often finds itself challenged by interest group pressures in maintaining objectivity and positivism.
He said justice and fairness in decision making in the face of pressure group influences depend crucially on adherence to the ethical moorings of codes of conduct of every profession, including the financial services industry and reporting thereon.
‘Appeal of the notions of objectivity and positivism are fairly straightforward; but like all other private and public institutions, professional and social groups in the society are exposed to pressure group influences from various directions,’ he said.
The Bangladesh Bank governor pointed out that objective unbiased reporting of aberrant events in news media helps expose the unhealthy influences and prevent their recurrence, while slanted, biased reporting can act in collusion with the undesirable influences trying to cover up or gloss over the misdeeds.
Maintaining positivism is easier when reporting is unbiased and not slanted in favour of particular interest groups, but it is not enough for positivism to stop there, he added.
-With New Age input
