Govt decides to keep banks open immediately after mass confusion
Khaza Hasan Chisty, a small business proprietor, yesterday spent a lot more than one hour around noon at the Tejgaon branch of Dutch-Bangla Lender in the capital to withdraw cash so that he does not face any liquidity shortage during the hard lockdown beginning with today.
He got a good serial amount of 40 as there is a massive masses at the branch following the government ordered banking institutions to close during the lockdown period around midnight of April 14 and the morning of April 21.
Although the clients had put on a face mask to prevent themselves from the coronavirus, it had been not enough to keep the health protocol given the huge crowd, said Chisty.
"I was terrified of the group, but there was no scope in order to avoid visiting the lender as I must keep adequate profit my hand through the lockdown period when banking institutions will stay close," he said.
Like Chisty, thousand of other folks rushed to banks aswell, after both the central bank and the federal government on April 12 ordered banking institutions to keep all branches close from Wednesday, as the country has tightened measures to curb the pass on of the virus.
In the afternoon, the federal government and the central bank backtracked from the stance, declaring some branches will stay open through the restriction period.
Albeit a pain relief, the later decision frustrated Chisty.
"The authorities should have taken the decision two or three days before to dispel confusion among the commoners whether banks would continue to be wide open or not."
Crowding in a little space creates risks in many folds to pass on the deadly flu, he explained.
As per the new decision, clients might be allowed to conduct banking from 10:00 am to at least one 1:00 pm. Branches will have to be shut by 2.30 pm after completing regular procedures.
Authorised supplier (AD) branches that carry out overseas transactions, including those for exports and imports, will operate as usual.
If any AD branch isn't available in a radius of two kilometres in city corporation areas, a non-AD branch, which is dedicated to operating general banking, will have to be kept open.
Banks could keep their key branch found in the district town start as well.
The branches in upazilas will open up the doorways for the clients on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
The central bank have been in a fix on setting opening hours following the government declared the restrictions on activity on a limited scale on April 4.
On your day, the banking regulator said clients could settle financial transactions from 10:00 am to 12:30 pm on regular business days.
On April 11, the BB extended the banking hours by half an hour for April 12 and 13 as clients rushed to banks to withdraw funds, apprehending that branches might remain closed through the strict restriction.
Out of the blue, the central bank extended the banking hours to 3 pm for yesterday to ensure that clients could withdraw cash smoothly. It designed confusion among people.
Salehuddin Ahmed, a former governor of the central lender, said there have been too little policy coordination between the central lender and the government.
"The government must have handed over the duty to the central lender to select banks opening time," he said.
"The central bank should have declared a obvious instruction two or three days ago to the end."
