Treasury heads of 6 banks get their jobs back

Bangladesh Bank on Thursday said six banks that were ordered to remove their treasury heads last month can now reinstate them.

On August 8, the BB asked Standard Chartered Bank, BRAC Bank, Dutch-Bangla Bank, City Bank, Prime Bank, and Southeast Bank to remove their treasury chiefs amid allegations of dollar price manipulation.

After one and a half months the central bank backtracked from its earlier decision and sent letters to these six banks on Thursday mentioning that those treasury heads can now be given the charges of their treasury divisions.

“Managing directors of these six banks apologized for their mistakes and they promised not to repeat it,” said Serajul Islam, executive director and spokesman of BB confirmed the matter.

However, these banks have to keep aside 50 percent of the profits they made from exchange rate transactions in May-June for corporate social responsibility. Banks are allowed to take the remaining 50 percent of profits to their income accounts.

The exchange rate of the dollar reached over Tk 110 for settling import bills, up from Tk 86-87 in the middle of April. The exchange rate heated up further in July-August when one dollar was sold at Tk 120 in the open market.

The US dollar got pricier as the gap between the demand and supply of the greenback increased.

Bangladesh’s exports saw over 34 percent growth and reached $52 billion in fiscal 2021-22. But imports increased higher than exports. Also, inward remittances, the second largest source of Bangladesh’s foreign currency, are on a declining trend. As a result, the country’s foreign exchange reserves declined to below $37 billion for the first time in more than two years.

Later, the central bank took a number of steps to cool down the exchange rate market. The measures include tightening non-essential imports and introducing uniform exchange rates for all banks.