Mamun Rashid

I was one of the few Bangladeshis who worked with three global banks at home and abroad. I was also the youngest CEO of a commercial bank in Bangladesh. My laurels and recognition would anytime make anyone jealous.

Recently, there has been too much discussion about ethics. At the same time, we get to see individuals getting into too much public relations (PR) too.

 Last week the cabinet of Bangladesh okayed the draft Bank Company Act 2023 with an expressed intention to improve financial governance in our country. It was desired that if implemented properly, it could have major consequences for popularly known willful loan defaulters as well as the way our bank boards are formed and run.

All major strategic and operational decisions of highly successful financial institutions across the world are executed by their management upon proper vetting, review, and due diligence by the board of directors.

We just witnessed the collapse of two large US banks -- Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). A few others are also reportedly in the same mess.

It was possibly 2004-05. We were trying to determine the possible inward remittance pie for Bangladesh at a Bangladesh Enterprise Institute discussion. A study in this respect showed the possible pie to be $20 billion or so by 2012.

With the exception of a few, gender inequality has plagued society for centuries, with women being consistently denied access to positions of true power and influence. There have always been the more obvious and visible barriers which we are well aware of, but much more powerful and troublesome are the invisible barriers that have systematically held back qualified women from reaching the highest levels of leadership. 

In today’s rapidly changing business environment, organisations that fail to adapt and evolve run the risk of becoming obsolete. As the management guru Peter Drucker said, “The only sustainable competitive advantage is an organisation’s ability to learn faster than the competition.”     

Earlier this month, I attended a graduation ceremony at Middlebury College at Vermont, USA. In her speech, the president of the college repeatedly mentioned the phrase “collective genius”, which has stuck with me since.

 Bangladesh is at a crossroads where the past meets the present and the future is forged.    

Bangladesh’s stock market had a lackluster year in 2022 after posting double-digit returns for the previous two years. Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSEX), the broad market index of the country, fell 8.1 per cent in 2022, while daily average turnover fell by 35 per cent.

Trade-based money laundering (TBML) is a silent killer that is undermining the very foundations of Bangladesh’s economic growth. As an emerging economy and, more so, an expanding trading nation that is going through LDC graduation, Bangladesh is particularly vulnerable to TBML. This illicit activity is weakening financial institutions, eroding foreign currency reserves, and undermining international trade, leaving the country’s economy in shambles and stakeholders in despair.

2023 is already here and no doubt, the last three years have been rough for Bangladesh. It is almost as though a ship at sea navigating and making its way through rough waters during a storm.

I am grateful to each of the seniors at ANZ, Standard Chartered, Citibank, and for the last eight years at PwC, for trusting me as an important client interface and solution-building person. Almost 35 years of client interface experience is all about what I am today.

In the 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.

We have seen the year 2022 to be a year of many experiments for regulators, and more importantly, the local and international private sector.

The beginning of 2022 saw Bangladesh’s economy poised to make a strong recovery from Covid-19 with demand across the world rebounding, supply chain backlogs easing and improving domestic consumption.

As Bangladesh steps into its 51st year of Independence, one cannot help but applaud its inspiring story of growth. Bangladesh has transformed itself from an economic “basket case” into one of the world’s fastest-growing economies.    

The Bangladeshi startup ecosystem has seen remarkable growth in the past few years with approximately 1,200 active startups across sectors, including fintech, logistics, healthcare, tourism, agriculture and education. In fact, startups like ShopUp, bKash, Pathao, Chaldal, Maya, Shajgoj, and iFarmer have innovated new products and processes to transform the market and have attracted millions of dollars in foreign investments for Bangladesh along with creating thousands of new jobs.

Our professor for reputation and crisis management at Kellogg School of Management told us: “Nothing seems to work during a crisis. People are either confused or panicked all along.”