Void left in the passing of the outspoken

The passing of Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled will create a vacuum in the country's financial industry for he was outspoken when it came to raising a bold voice against scammers in banks.

The personality he possessed is a rarity nowadays because he used to go all out in efforts to protect the financial sector from delinquent borrowers, said bankers and analysts.

"Khaled was a man of conscience, who had never been afraid to speak the truth. And he was the voice of the deprived borrowers in the country's financial sector," said Atiur Rahman, a former central bank governor.

He left his earthly sojourn at a time when few are taking a bold stance against the fraudsters, he said.  

There are just a handful of people who give thought to underprivileged borrowers and Khaled was one of them, he said.

"He played an exceptional role in establishing corporate governance in the country's banking sector," said Rahman.

The country's financial inclusion programme gained momentum for his active engagements to this end, he said.

When Khaled was appointed managing director of Bangladesh Krishi Bank (BKB) in 1994, he broke from norms by starting to visit rural areas in order to observe the sufferings of farmers.

It could very well be a first for a bank's managing director to visit rural areas, said Rahman.

Khaled heard out problems of farmers with the utmost patience and arranged district-level meetings with deputy commissioners as part of his efforts to take loans to underprivileged farmers, he said.

"During the period of my governorship in the central bank, I visited different districts with Khaled while he was the BKB chairman. We together put in the effort to disburse farm loans among the underprivileged farmers."

Despite holding the post of managing director at different banks and the deputy governor of the central bank, he did not enjoy that much of financial solvency in life, a sign of honesty and sincerity, said Rahman.

Khaled invested some of his pension fund in national savings certificates, which was his major source of income following retirement, said Rahman.

Prof Abdul Bayes, a former vice-chancellor of Jahangirnagar University, described Khaled as one of Bangladesh's most talented, honest and knowledgeable bankers.

"Personally democratic and secular, he never compromised on his ideology for the sake of power or position. He was amicable by nature but as steady as a rock in performing duties," he said.

He was brave in pointing out those involved in corruption in financial intermediation, said Bayes, also a former chairman of the university's economics department.

"The nation lost a dedicated man," he said.

MA Halim Chowdhury, a former managing director of Pubali Bank, said the private lender had made a comeback from its previous state as a "problem bank" due to Khaled's immense efforts.

"It is my immense pleasure to have worked under his guidance between 2000 and 2006," he said.

Default loans in Pubali Bank were standing at more than 40 per cent when he joined the bank, Chowdhury said.

The figure decreased to less than 10 per cent when he completed his tenure.

"Khaled restored corporate governance at the bank and turned it into a profit-making institution," he added.

Syed Mahbubur Rahman, managing director of Mutual Trust Bank, depicted Khaled as an iconic figure, reasoning his strong voice against the unholy nexus in the country's financial sector.

"We have just lost a brave heart. His departure will create a vacuum in the fight to establish corporate governance," he said.