Mr. Obaidul Haque, well experienced banker is currently carrying out his responsibilities as the Principal of NRBC Bank PLC, one of the leading private banks of Bangladesh. Earlier Mr. Obaidul Haque performed his duties in different capacities in Bangladesh Bank, and after retirement this highly experienced banker joined in NRBC Bank Training Institute as the Principal around two years back. Very recently on behalf of Reflection News, an English monthly took an Exclusive Interview on the current status of banking sector and other related issues as well. Some of the excerpts of the interview is given below: (Interviewed by Mahmudul Haque Khan Dulal, Editor of Reflection News)

Reflection News: How do you evaluate the present status of Banking Sector of the country? What is the specialty of NRBC Bank PLC?

Md. Obaidul Haque: As you know the banking sector of Bangladesh passing through a very difficult time till today some banks have been suffering from huge liquidity crisis. Although the present government led by Professor Dr. Muhammad Younus is trying its best to mitigate this problem so that people could get a congenial atmosphere for smooth banking. Why this happened it’s a big question as everything like corruption, irregularities, mismanagement etc took place under the nose of the past ousted government and few corrupted concerned high-ups/officials of those banks. They could not recover the lending money from the borrowers, especially the powerful business group who had a close nexus with the then government looted money randomly in the name of loans and siphoned off it. Apart from this 80% of the total lending money was disbursed as corporate loans, and it was done through a massive corruption which is now crystal clear to all. The ousted Hasina government is totally responsible for creating such situation. They destroyed the whole economy either knowingly or unknowingly. In fact they were indifferent to this which is really regrettable. The concerned authorities of different banks disbursed loans crossing the single borrower exposer limit  35% capital of the bank.The documentation of loan papers was not cross checked properly, and they also overvalued it and disbursed the loans. The bank looters laundered money to different countries through over invoicing and under invoicing. The captured some banks and almost 90% money took away as loan and laundered it drastically. During the past 15 years the AL led government did not consider the economic viability rather politically considered to give approval of 30 banks and financial institutions, which created an uneven competition among the stakeholders in this arena. The interest of lending money is increased due to such aggressive banking. At the same time people have lost their confidence on banks to a great extent. Being scared the depositors started to withdraw money due to this many banks had to face liquidity crisis although the central bank is trying heart and soul to resolves this problem during the last couple of months.

About the specialty of NRBC Bank here I would like to say, “NRBC is a bank of mass people. We mainly disburse money as micro credit to the people of grass root level with a view to develop them economically and with this end in view this bank plays a vital role for eradicating unemployment problem from the society. We do not have any liquidity crisis as of now, and we are operating our activities smoothly without having any impediments.

Reflection News: Do you think the present government is sincere enough to bring back a congenial atmosphere in this sector?

Md. Obaidul Haque: Undoubtedly the present government is very much sincere to have a healthy situation in banking and to this end they are taking various effective measures. Meanwhile they dissolved the board of directors and reappointed independent directors there. Almost two lakhs thousand of money had been looted so far by the bank looter in the name of loans with the help of the previous government. So the looters should be identified to bring them under trial, and the looted money will have to bring back at any cost. An exemplary punishment should be given those who are involved with such activities so that nobody dares to commit it in future. At the same time no necessary reforms are found in government banks but still many who were appointed during the earlier government, so the concerned authorities should do the needful regarding this.

Reflection News: As the Principal of NRBC Bank Training Institute- what are your core duties?

Md. Obaidul Haque: There are many risks in general banking for achieving goal, vision and mission as well. With a view to overcome this we try to make skilled and efficient to each and every officials/employees so that they could render their responsibilities perfectly. Actually as the Principal of this training institute I try to provide them necessary training for their well preparedness as a skilled one to deliver their activities effectively to implement the bank’s goal.

Reflection News: You have vast experience in banking and earlier you worked in Bangladesh Bank till retirement as Executive Director. From that point of view what strategies should be taken to do develop this sector?

Md. Obaidul Haque: If we want to develop this sector there should be due diligence, proper compliance and corporate good governance as these are the key strategies for having a smooth and better banking. Apart from this, strong off-site and on-site supervision will have to conduct regularly , and it is seriously needed to apply for having  a good atmosphere in banking.

Reflection News: What do you envision for the future of your bank and training institute as well?

Md. Obaidul Haque: My envision is to see NRBC Bank PLC as one of the leading banks in Bangladesh, which we could be able to achieve through proper training to our employees by NRBC Training Institute. We will try our best to make a full compliance bank with good governance.