As
IMF
Tells
Bangladesh How
to Regulate
Banks,
Insiders Rush
for Licenses
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
April 11 --
While the
International
Monetary Fund
often
insists it
does not
impose
conditions on
loans, for the
$1 billion
program it
announced
Wednesday for
Bangladesh, it
required among
other things
lower fuel
subsidies, and
centralizing
bank
regulation.
Inner
City Press
asked David
Cowen, IMF
Mission Chief
for
Bangladesh,
about this
bank
regulation
condition, and
about the rush
by Bank
Bangladesh to
give
licenses to
nine new banks
chartered by
political
insiders, on
the
eve of the IMF
decision.
Cowen
described
the required
amendments to
the Bank
Companies Act,
for "fit
criteria for
bank
directors,"
and said that
the IMF was
aware of
the recent
license
grants, and
hadn't had the
chance to
discuss them
with
Bangladesh
authorities.
He said
regular
procedures for
licensing
new banks had
been followed
-- indeed --
and that the
banks should
be
subject to the
regulations
applicable to
all banks in
Bangladesh.
Here's
a
description of
the six most
recent banks
and their
sponsors:
"former
president
and Jatiya
Party chief
H.M. Ershad
(Union Bank),
ruling
party
lawmakers
Fazle Noor
Taposh
(Modhumati
Bank) and
Mohiuddin Khan
Al Amgir
(Farmers
Bank), S.M.
Amjad Hussain
(South Bangla
Agriculture
and Commerce
Bank) and
Ashequr Rahman
(Meghna Bank)
and
Moniruzzaman
Khan Khandaker
(Midland
Bank), the
income tax
lawyer to
Shaikh
Hasina."
What
was that
again, about
"fit criteria
for bank
directors"?
Meanwhile
HSBC is
trying either
to sell its 13
Bangladesh
branches,
reportedly to
Standard
Chartered, or
simply to
close them by
some accounts.
On
April 10 HSBC
announced it
is in talks to
sell off its
operations in
Pakistan and
is moving in
on a sale of
its South
Korean
businesses to
the Korea
Development
Bank.
Beyond
Bangladesh,
other Asian
markets
where HSBC has
fewer than 20
branches are
Brunei
Darussalam,
Macao,
New Zealand,
the
Philippines
and Sri Lanka.
Watch this
site.
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