Recently, Bangladesh Association of Bankers (BAB), a body representing the owners of private commercial banks in Bangladesh, announced that interest rates charged by these financial institutions would be brought down to the single digits from July 1.

In a move that can at best be described as preposterous, the Bangladesh Association of Bankers (BAB) has asked the government to help stop negative publicity in media that can undermine public's confidence in the banking sector. The fact of the matter is that a bank is not undermined by media reports; it is really undermined by bad governance leading to gross mismanagement by the bank itself including the directors. Media reports only when mismanagement occurs, and at this stage it is our duty to do so.

In yet another compromise with directors of private commercial banks, the government yesterday decided to slash the cash reserve requirement or CRR of banks by one percentage point to 5.5 percent for their benefit.