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Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami has called for completely separating the country’s financial sector from politics and business to ensure discipline and good governance in the banking sector.
The party also proposed reducing the number of banks and preventing any single group or family from exercising control over a bank’s board.
It further proposed stringent punishment for loan defaulters involved in siphoning off funds, scrapping the special authority of bank boards to approve loans and taking specific measures to recover assets allegedly transferred abroad.
The proposals were disclosed to journalists on Sunday following the fourth meeting of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Finance of the 13th Jatiya Sangsad at the Parliament complex.
Jamaat lawmaker and member of the Finance Ministry-related committee Saiful Alam Khan Milon presented the proposals while speaking to journalists after the meeting.
Committee Chairman and Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury described the proposals as timely and positive measures for reforming the banking sector in the interest of economic stability, according to Saiful Alam.
Saiful Alam said persistent irregularities and corruption in the banking sector could only be curbed by establishing transparency and strict, impartial criteria for loan approvals.
He said a framework had been proposed to ensure that the financial sector operates professionally, free from political influence, which he said could add a new dimension to banking sector reforms.
“The finance minister has also assured us that the government will give serious consideration to these proposals before taking further steps to reorganise the banking sector,” Saiful Alam said.
He said specific and stringent criteria should be established for loan approvals.
“We have also demanded that the authority of bank boards to approve loans be scrapped so that no undue influence or irregularities can take place,” he said.