Corruption in Bangladesh Banking and Financial Sector: A Qualitative and Quantitative Assessment

The problem of corruption in the Bangladesh’s banking and financial sector is deeply embedded problem that is hampering the growth, stability in the financial sector and lack of trust in the citizens. Bangladesh has always been in the league of world’s most corruption prone nations; for example, the country only managed a score of 24 out of 100 points based on the corruption perceptions index 2023, 149 of 180 countries (1). In comparison, India scored 39(ranking 93), Pakistan 29(ranking 133) and Nigeria 25(ranking 145) same index (2,3). Such indicators point to the magnitude of Bangladesh’s governance deficit and provide the background for discussion of corruption in its banking sector (see Table 1). Corruption in banking here means the misuse of entrusted power to pursue private gain in financial institutions – bribery, fraud, loan embezzlement, favouritism in credit allocation and regulatory capture.