Report on Bank Company (amendment) Bill 2017 placed in JS

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SANGSAD BHABAN, Nov 22, 2017 (BSS) – The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance Ministry today placed the “Bank Company (amendment) Bill, 2017” for passage in the House.

Chairman of the Committee M Abdur Razzaque placed the report at the House with Speaker of the Jatiya Sangsad Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair.

Scrutinizing the bill in two meetings of the committee on October 29 and November 21 it agreed to place in the house for passage. Committee members MA Mannan MP, Nazmul Hasan MP, Farhad HOssen MP, Mostafizur Rahman Chowdhury, M Shawkat Chowdhury and Begum Akhter Zahan, among others, were present in the meetings.

Earlier, Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith on September 12 placed the “Bank Company (Amendment) Bill, 2017” in the Jatiya Sangsad with a view to bringing some changes in the process of nomination to the top positions of the bank and tenure of the Directors.

As per the new amendment, it has been proposed that four members of a family instead of existing two can be inducted in the board of directors of a bank at a time from a family and a person can hold the post of a Director of a bank for nine years continuously instead of current three years.

Earlier, the cabinet approved the draft of the bill at its regular meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair on May 8, 2017.

The draft was approved with changes to fulfil a long-time demand of the private bank owners, particularly the promoters.

Jatiya Party lawmaker Fakhrul Imam objected to the placement of the bill in the house terming the proposal for raising the number of Sponsor Directors of the private banks from existing two to four from a family as unethical. He called for withdrawal of the bill as it would, what he said, help open the floodgate for plundering depositors money by the sponsor family directors of the banks.

The Finance Minister gave the justification for placing the bill in the House.

Later, the House sent the bill to the parliamentary standing committee concerned for scrutiny and asked to return it by two months.