BB gets two new deputy governors

For the first time in its 48-year history, the Bangladesh Bank will have four deputy governors at a time after the finance ministry on Sunday appointed Kazi Sayedur Rahman and AKM Sajedur Rahman Khan for the posts.

Rahman is an executive director of the BB while Khan is the managing director of Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RAKUB). The appointments will remain valid until they reach the age of 62: Rahman has until January 1, 2025, and Khan February 1, 2024. 

The two will join SM Moniruzzaman and Ahmed Jamal, the other two deputy governors. Moniruzzaman’s contract is due to expire next month.

“It is very good news for us that the central bank is getting two more deputy governors,” Md. Serajul Islam, executive director and spokesperson of the BB, told Dhaka Tribune.

The central bank always had three deputy governors but last year a fourth post was added with the condition that one of them will be filled up by someone from a commercial bank.

Now with four deputy governors it is expected that the central bank’s supervision on the country’s financial system will be amped up.

The process to fill in the two posts, which has been in the works for quite some time, was not entirely smooth.

In October last year, an advertisement was published in newspapers for the two vacant posts.

The search committee, assigned with recommending a shortlist of competent candidates, was scheduled to sit to review applications and conduct preliminary interviews, according to senior officials of the central bank.

But the committee, led by noted economist Qazi Kholiquzzaman Ahmad, postponed the meeting due to the pandemic. 

Considering the infectious nature of the pathogen, the committee proposed to hold the meetings online instead, which the BB objected to and insisted on physical meetings. 

Amid the standoff between the BB and the search committee, the recruitment process had remained virtually stagnant. 

Then the finance ministry stepped in and forwarded a list of names to the Prime Minister’s Office, superseding the search committee.