Bangladesh Bank is preparing its first-ever long-term plan to revitalise the stagnant banking sector, central bank governor Atiur Rahman said on Tuesday.
"A five-year strategic plan will lift the sector through consistent monetary policy, greater automation, increasing manpower skills, reducing lending rates and, overall, finding the proper approach for banks to contribute more to the growth of the economy," Rahman told bdnews24.com.
Customer service development will be highlighted with incentives for banks will be motivated to accept many new products.
"The dream of a modern banking sector will be the focus of the plan and we are hopeful of its success," he said.
"This sort of five-year planning is going to be introduced for the first time in the banking sector," he said.
The plan will be finalised after discussions with the chiefs of public, private, special and foreign banks operating in the country.
"The process is already underway," Rahman added.
He said the plan would be announced formally in January next year and will serve in two ways: for the banking sector as a whole and for the central bank.
The governor said, "The five-year plan will take into consideration the present state of the sector and where we want to reach in future."
Rahman was optimistic about future growth of the sector. "The banking sectors of many countries were affected due to the global economic recession. But we are still safe, which proves the current strength of our banking sector."
He said governments in many countries were forced to bail out their banks. "Whereas banks in our country are giving assistance to the affected sectors," he said.
Central bank officials had a meeting with chief executives of all banks on a planned Automated Clearing House earlier Tuesday.
The primary discussions about the strategic plan were made in that meeting, said Rahman.
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Rubeel
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