Md Joynal Abedin Khan
All scheduled banks of the country experienced poor transaction on Thursday, the second day of a week-long ‘strict’ lockdown as a small number of customers turned up at the banks.
Staff members at the banks were seen sitting idle most of the time because of the low presence of clients for banking activities.
Bankers said they saw such an absence of clients on Thursday because a good number of people already completed their transactions and other banking activities on Tuesday.
The authorities on Tuesday announced that all scheduled banks would remain closed during the week-long lockdown before they relaxed the rules.
Another cause for poor transaction is a suspension of inter-bank electronic funds transfer (EFT) services since April 13 due to a technical glitch in the banking server, bankers said.
While visiting several branches of commercial banks in Dhaka, it was found that most of the banks were almost deserted of customers.
Not a single client was present at the premises of Janata Bank’s Kampalapur branch at 12:35pm despite the banking hours being scheduled to end at 1:00pm.
Even the main gate of the branch was shut, only the pocket gate was open.
A senior officer assigned to cash section of the branch told The Business Post that only one customer withdrew cash from the branch till 12:40pm on Thursday since morning.
Md Alauddin, manager of Sonali Bank Limited’s ICD branch in Kamlapur, however, claimed that transaction and customer turnout were almost as usual as they were continuing to provide their services in full swing.
Officials concerned contradicted the statement, saying that the transaction till 12:20pm was only Tk four crore while the total transaction was Tk 35 crore on the last banking day.
Monirul Islam, a Bank Asia Limited client, returned empty-handed after failing to transact money through treasury cheque at the ICD branch of Sonali Bank on Thursday.
Sonali Bank’s ICD branch Manager Alauddin told him that no transaction would be possible due to the suspension of EFT service, Monirul said.
Md Siddiqul Islam, manager of the Local Branch of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited, cited the same reason for the low turnout.
Md Mostafa Kamal, senior officer of Uttara Bank Limited in Motijheel, said transaction declined because maximum clients withdrew their money on the last banking day before lockdown on Tuesday.
Masum Mizan, AVP and in-Charge of cash section of Al-Arafah Islami Bank Limited, echoed Kamal.
Kabita Banu, a cash officer at Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited’s Motijheel branch, said customer turnout was very poor there on Thursday comparing to the transaction on Tuesday.
A senior officer of NCC Bank Dilkusha branch said they were passing a lazy time due to the lack of clients.
Sirajul Islam, spokesman of the Bangladesh Bank, told The Business Post that the repairing work for the technical glitch was to be finished by Thursday.
The glitch in the central bank's Bangladesh Automated Clearing House (BATCH), dedicated to clear cheque and settle transactions through electronic fund transfer (EFT) caused the suspension of the function, he said.
Over Tk 13,000 crore is settled through the two transaction systems daily, another BB official said.
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