Referendum campaign creates unease among some bankers

Bangladesh Bank has asked commercial lenders to actively campaign for an upcoming referendum, a move that has created discomfort among some bankers.

Top executives of banks were requested, through a letter, to display banners at branches encouraging participation in the vote, which will be held alongside parliamentary elections on February 12.

However, bankers said they were asked in a recent meeting to campaign for a “Yes” vote on the issues included in the referendum.

The referendum concerns the constitutional reform agenda outlined in the “July Charter”.

The directive stemmed from a letter sent by the Chief Adviser’s Office on January 5, according to bankers familiar with the matter. Pressure to act intensified about a week later during a meeting chaired by BB Governor Ahsan H Mansur.

Mashrur Arefin, chairman of the Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB), confirmed to The Daily Star that managing directors and CEOs were explicitly asked to advocate for a “Yes” vote.

Arefin also said that banks were requested to provide funding to non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to support public awareness efforts, a measure the ABB intends to facilitate.

While he expressed support for the initiative, citing the complexity of the political landscape, some other senior bankers privately questioned the propriety of the request.

Requesting anonymity, the chief executive officer (CEO) of a commercial bank, who attended the meeting, said that, given the political nature of the issue, some participants felt the matter could have been discussed individually rather than raised in a formal forum.

There may be a conflict of interest on various points mentioned in the set of questions for the “Yes/No” vote in the referendum, he said.

“Ideally, banks should not be part of it. If the government wants to run the campaign, it can do so on its own,” said the CEO of another bank, also speaking on condition of anonymity.

The former managing director of a bank said, “This is not the job of a bank. 

But when the government asks for something, banks have little choice but to comply.”

A fourth bank’s CEO said banks were “humbly requested” to play a role in awareness creation because of a perceived lack of public engagement. “There was nothing forceful,” he said, although concerns were raised about whether the involvement could appear political.

The controversy comes at a time when the central bank is seeking amendments to the Bangladesh Bank Order 1972 to strengthen its institutional autonomy, following the fall of the previous government.

Economists have long identified political interference as a key factor behind the deterioration of the banking sector.

Critics have drawn parallels with practices under the administration of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, when banks were reportedly frequently pressured to contribute to state-backed initiatives or display political branding under the banner of corporate social responsibility.

Debapriya Bhattacharya, convenor of the Citizens’ Platform for SDGs and a distinguished fellow at the Centre for Policy Dialogue, described the directive as a “breach of referendum fairness”.

“The government must not become a party to this. It is the people’s choice,” he said. “By taking sides, the state is practising coercion – what I would call the Hasina method. It proves the bureaucracy hasn’t evolved.”

Contacted, Arief Hossain Khan, executive director and spokesperson of Bangladesh Bank, said the central bank had asked banks to conduct a “Yes” vote campaign in line with a government request.