Country's banking sector doing much better compared to other countries: Finance minister

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Thursday said that the country's banking sector has been performing much better compared to other countries of the world thanks to the relentless efforts of the bankers and the government.

"After becoming the finance minister, I had kept my trust and confidence in this sector and now I can say I was not cheated (I was right)," he said.

The finance minister said this while addressing the golden jubilee celebration and annual conference of the country's largest state-owned commercial bank, Sonali Bank Ltd, as the chief guest at the Bangabandhu International Conference Centre (BICC) in the capital Thursday (24 March) afternoon.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir, Senior Secretary of the Finance Division Abdur Rouf Talukder, former central bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman spoke as special guests.

Presided over by Sonali Bank Ltd Chairman Ziaul Hasan Siddiqui, CEO and managing director of the bank Md Ataur Rahman Prodhan gave the welcome address. Country's first Finance Secretary M Matiul Islam also spoke.

Earlier, the finance minister inaugurated the Sonali Bank's agent banking activities, unveiled the cover of a book "Sonali Proyash" and cut a cake.

Mentioning that Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had closely been associated with this bank as he had named the bank, Kamal said with the passage of time, Sonali Bank has become the place of trust and confidence of common people.

Starting with only some 267 branches, Kamal said, the number of total Sonali Bank branches has reached 1,229 and those are playing a steadfast role in the economy as the "bank of commoners".

He noted that there is no such need for recapitalisation or refinancing from the government to the Sonali Bank over the last few years and this has been a tremendous achievement. "This bank is now in a better position compared to other banks."

Referring to the earlier decision of the government to impose capping on the interest rates, the finance minister said due to such move, no bank was affected during the difficult time of Covid-19.

"Had there been no capping on the interest rates, it would have been very hard to find out the strong existence of any entity," he added.

The finance minister also renewed the government's firm resolve to build a hunger-and poverty-free country by 2030 and a prosperous developed country by 2041.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir asked the authorities of Sonali Bank Ltd to be more client-friendly since there is enough scope for improvement.

The central bank governor also suggested the bank to further reduce the loan processing timeframe, increase non-funded business, reduce the number of losing branches to zero level and provide more loans to the CMSME sector.

"In a fast-changing banking culture, you'll have to keep up the pace and thus equip yourselves," he told the officials and employees of Sonali Bank.

Kabir also noted that due to the hard work and efficiency of the staffers, the Non-Performing Loan (NPL) of the Sonali Bank has come down to 17.76% in 2021 which was 40.85% in 2000 and 49.85% in 1992.

Finance Division Senior Secretary Abdur Rouf Talukder said that the government wants to see lower NPL in the Sonali Bank, bring the bank under automation, develop R&D, bring in more financial innovations, establish a research department at the bank and thus provide regular training to the staff.

Former central bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman said that the public sector banks are playing the most effective role in eliminating the "bank fear" among the marginal people.

Listing some services of the bank, Atiur said that the Sonali e-wallet service has been playing a special role in establishing cashless society.

Stressing the need for building skilled and technology-based human resources in the banking sector, he also urged all to remain alert so that none could make a fracture in the confidence of the banking sector.

According to the Sonali Bank, its overall deposits reached Tk1,33,735.89 crore in 2021 with loan and advance Tk69,011.51 crore. The bank made a profit of Tk2,087.05 crore last year.

In the year 2020, the total deposit of Sonali Bank was Tk1,24,252.86 crore with loan and advance of Tk58,544.41 crore. The bank made a profit of Tk2,175.11 crore in that year.