Stressing the need for strengthening internal supervision and control in the state-owned banks to ensure good governance, finance Minister AMA Muhith on Saturday said Hallmark scam took place in 2012 due mainly to weakness in internal control. ‘The SoBs must give due attention to their internal supervision and control to stop recurrence of such incidents,’ the finance minister said while addressing the annual conference of Sonali Bank for the year 2014 held in Dhaka.
SBL chairman AHM Habibur Rahman chaired the function while secretary of the bank and financial institutions division of the finance ministry M Aslam Alam and managing director and chief executive Pradip Kumar Dutta, among others, spoke on the occasion.
Speaking at the programme as chief guest, the finance minister said a risk-free environment must be ensured in the SoBs to provide the clients with uninterrupted services. The SoBs must be careful so that their online banking services do not hamper due to any technical glitches, he added.
‘Bangladesh’s banking sector is now standing on a strong base and it has witnessed a massive expansion… what we need now is to ensure quality services for people,’ the finance minister added.
Deposit collection is not only the duty of banks, Muhith said, adding that the prime responsibility of banks is to use the idle money properly. In this regard, he suggested bankers using their own innovative business ideas.
According to Sonali Bank officials, recovery of the bank’s defaulted loans significantly improved in 2013 as it recovered defaulted loans worth Tk 5,176.50 crore. Sonali Bank has also declared 2014 as the year of business development and recovery of defaulted loans.
-With New Age input
