State Bank Governor Dr Shamshad Akhter always stresses on the banks to pay more profit to account holders. But all her efforts seem to be in vain. Even now, in her interview with one TV channel, she said same with this strong warning that she is going to take stern action against those banks that are violating prudential and banking rules and regulations.
Of course she can do this because, as head of the central bank, this is her responsibility to look into it. According to the records of the past few years, banks declared negative returns on the account holder's deposits.
In fact bankers know that they can easily exploit poor account holders, who do not know much about rules and regulations. If account holders take loans from the same bank, they charge them very high as mark up.
Another aspect which shows that the concerned bankers are least interested about poor account holders is when we read the banks announcements for net profit and cash dividends for its share holders. Here, question arises that if the bank can announce high profit to its shareholders why they cannot do so for those people who also contribute in the bank's progress by keeping their money with the banks?
Few days ago, the State Bank governor advised people to withdraw their amount from those banks not giving them what she called "smart" profit. It is very difficult for the common man to understand these technical terms. Now, she said that people can invest in mutual funds. It is not safe because it is full of serious risks as Mutual funds are related to the money market or stock market and always need close observation about the performance of particular companies etc. Hope that the governor State Bank will take a serious notice if banks again declare low profit rates. She is also expected to take action against such banks.