Bangladesh Bank's former governor Dr Atiur Rahman has suggested appointing a chairman from the independent directors of the board of directors of banks to ensure good governance in private banks.

He said this at a lunch meeting organised by the Foreign Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) at a hotel in Gulshan in the capital on Wednesday.

Under the chairmanship of FICCI President and Managing Director of Unilever Bangladesh, Javed Akhtar, businessmen from various sectors, and representatives of development partner countries joined the event.

Dr Atiur said that ensuring good governance in the financial sector is one of the challenges now. For that reason, professional people should be brought in as independent directors.

Besides, he said that implementation of the new Bank Company Act and the merger of weak banks should be encouraged to ensure that people do not become defaulters voluntarily, he said.

Atiur presented an article titled 'Bangladesh on the path to the trillion-dollar economy: possibilities and challenges'.

“Those who claimed as the main owners of private banks are not the main owners; Rather, bank depositors are the principal owners.”

So, if the independent directors become the chairman, they will be the representatives of the real owners of the banks, he said.

Atiur said that Bangladesh has developed amazingly over the last 50 years, and if the growth rate remains 5 percent, Bangladesh will be a trillion-dollar economy by 2040.

He pointed out that there are several challenges in achieving that goal, such as inflation, deficit in financial accounts and reduced investment.

Several steps need to be taken to solve these problems including stabilising the foreign exchange rate. This will reduce inflation as well as increase foreign investment, he said.