The stability of Bangladesh’s banking sector is under serious threat, and it’s no longer an abstract issue confined to industry insiders or economists.
Due to my long association with the tea industry, friends often ask me: if tea gardens are not profitable, why do so many people want to own them? More importantly, who skims the milk in our tea value chain?
Despite having spent more than three decades in the financial sector, I faced the real test as a credit officer when I was appointed head of restructuring and recovery at Standard Chartered Bank. This was particularly so during audit, portfolio review and due diligence assignments following the Asian financial meltdown in 1997, in East Africa, Greater China and Europe.
The future of healthcare in Bangladesh depends on whether we can move beyond words and take real action.
The interim government has presented its first national budget, possibly the last under this setup.
Bangladesh is at a traction point in its technology transformation journey, having started later than many global counterparts.
Globally, the financial sector has become a prime target for cybercrime, with attacks growing in scale, sophistication, and impact. In 2025, several high-profile breaches exposed vulnerabilities even within well-established institutions.
Reforming the Bangladesh banking sector is long overdue considering the ongoing struggles, such as liquidity issues, poor resource management, capital crises, and underperforming loans and their potential ripple effect on the economy. Forced bank mergers have been the talk of the town in recent times. But we have seen most of the "known to be good banks" quite confused and concerned about the possible measures.
The world's economic landscape is changing, shifting influence from the West to the East. In this transformation, Bangladesh, marked by a tech-savvy youth population is on the path of emerging as a promising hub for startups.
In 2023, Bangladesh's capital market faced a challenging environment characterised by internal constraints and external difficulties. It proved to be a tumultuous year for the stock business marked by unprecedented lows in average turnover and foreign investments, not seen since the collapse in 2010.
Post-pandemic, Bangladesh recovered reasonably quickly and was seeing encouraging signs that the economy was well poised to return to the pre-Covid growth path. However, a combination of global inflationary pressure and supply disruptions owing to the Russia-Ukraine War, a rising US dollar, increasing international inflation rates, and the emergence of recessionary fears in advanced economies coupled with a few not-so-thoughtful domestic policy measures created a hostile economic environment for us.
For years now, a plethora of reforms have been suggested by relevant stakeholders. As reactionary measures in a lot of instances, the government has explored some of these reforms and is taking steps in the right direction. However, considering where the economy stands right now and comparing with relevant countries, Bangladesh has significant ground to cover.
Bangladesh, with its emerging technology landscape, is an attractive playground for tech giants looking to invest, shape and benefit from this market. The government, with its Vision 2021 and SMART Bangladesh 2041 strategies, has pushed for a rapid digital transformation especially focusing on the public sector.
The recent passing of Mr Fazlur Rahman, the founder of City Group, has left a profound void in the hearts of many who are mourning the loss of an iconic entrepreneur and industrialist.
Bangladesh has long relied on its diaspora's remittances, accounting for 4.76 percent of GDP in 2022-23 – the true potential lies in fostering deeper engagement
Given the challenges, the government must dive into the issues and come up with corrective measures immediately after taking charge
We need the central bank and the market operators to come up with the right price for the dollar
