Bangladesh Bank has said that if there is a capital shortfall of the listed banks in the capital market, they cannot pay dividends in any way. The agency has asked the concerned department to inform the concerned department if any bank is doing such work.
A meeting of the managing directors of 17 banks was held with the governor at the central bank on Monday (November 11). After the meeting, the spokesperson and executive director of Bangladesh Bank Husne Ara Shikha gave this information to the journalists.
The spokesperson said that in the meeting, the governor requested to provide more liquidity support to the weak banks which have good deposit standing. Bangladesh Bank has already made a mechanism to provide liquidity assistance to those who have low liquidity adequacy. Other banks have been requested to adopt this mechanism.
He said, earlier, the governor wanted to know whether there is any challenge with the exchange rate and the foreign exchange market. Bank MDs said that even if there is no challenge about it, there is some risk in the case of ‘over due payment of LC’. For example, the IMF and the World Bank said during the meeting with the MDs of various banks that in some cases, some banks may be paying in advance in the case of international payments, but when the confirming bank asks for its payment to be replenished or reinvested after the payment is completed, the governor has taken it very seriously. And he said a warning has been issued against all banks that will pay the deal. If they are found to be doing such things in future, administrative action will be taken against them. International LCs that are open should be properly paid.
The spokesperson said that the banks have said that the foreign exchange market will be more stable till January. It is still stable though. So that nobody manipulates here, so that they don’t hoard dollars and sell them in hopes of getting a higher price later. Some are buying back dollars and transferring them to euros, it was discussed that no one is trying to profit by doing this.
Apart from this, the meeting also discussed about keeping the diploma exam which was made mandatory during the previous governor’s time and not making it mandatory, but keeping an alternative option. In this regard, it has been said to form a committee where Bangladesh Bank officials and commercial bank officials can be there.
