Bangladesh versions of Vijay Mallyas!

Popular Indian stand-up comedian and television host Kapil Sharma, while appearing in the first episode of 'The Great Indian Kapil Show' on Netflix said, 'Appne Money Heist dekha hoga. Aaat dos loge lal rang ke mukhate aur dress pahen ke bank loot ne jaate. Khamaka Netflix ne ente kharcha kiya. Us ko Vijay Mallya se sekhne chaheye tha ke bank loot ne ke leye bank jane ke jaroorat nehe hota (You must have seen 'Money Heist'. Eight to ten people wearing red masks and dresses are trying to loot a bank. Netflix unnecessarily has spent money on such a scene. It should have got the clue from Vijay Mallya that a bank can be looted without going there physically). The audience present at the show got the meaning and burst into laughter. Vijay Mallya, a two-time Rajya Shava (upper house of Indian parliament) member and a top business person, is now leading the life of a fugitive in the United Kingdom. He is being pursued by several Indian banks for siphoning off funds worth US$1.1 billion. Mr Mallya is also facing a few cases in the UK.

Kapil Sharma's dialogue must have also aroused an identical reaction among Bangladeshi viewers of the same episode. That these days one does not need to go to banks to loot money is far more obvious in Bangladesh. The country's banking sector is in an upheaval because of crafty operations done by some people like Vijay Mallyas. They have been laundering funds worth billions of dollars every year and bank money constitutes a part of those.

The armed miscreants, suspected to be outlawed KNF members in the country's hilly districts, however, acted otherwise. They made daring raids on three bank branches located in two towns of Bandarban and managed to loot a small amount of money at gunpoint during the last couple of days. They must be unaware of the sophisticated ways of looting banks and have taken all the risks involved in Western-type bank holdups. The amount of money they looted was not worth the risks they had taken.

The financial sector is now abuzz with one particular issue – merger of banks, weaker ones with their stronger counterparts. The merger of two banks -- the chairman of the stronger one of the pair, however, would describe it as a takeover -- is already under process. Some more banks, including the state-owned ones, might meet the same fate soon.

The remedies suggested by various circles, from time to time, to rid the banking sector of its woes also included merger and acquisition (M&A), a global practice.

Non-performing loans (NPLs) are the leading one among the problems that have brought many banks to their knees. These banks are now being considered strong candidates for merger. And Bangladesh versions of Vijay Malaya have played a key role in the accumulation of a huge volume of NPL, nearly Tk1.5 trillion.

However, there is a stark difference between India and Bangladesh in the matters of taking actions at the state level to get hold of the bank money plunderers. Though Vijay Malaya was linked to the Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), some government agencies, coming under pressure or otherwise, have taken serious steps to get him extradited from the UK. In Bangladesh, similar actions hardly come by, as political links seem to be stronger than the rule of law here. This is clear from the approval of a dozen new banks when some old banks were struggling. The use of questionable means to acquire banks and secure large loans has been making news headlines in recent months, but those who matter are preferring to be indifferent.

The merger process that the banking sector regulator has initiated is unlikely to produce any tangible outcome, for it is being done hastily and without following international practices. The World Bank country director the other day, while unveiling the Bangladesh Economic Update in Dhaka, also made similar observation. So, if the government and the central bank were truly interested in streamlining the banking sector, they would have to go for serious and painful reforms - painful for some bank sponsors, delinquent borrowers and schemers.

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