$200m project to automate state banks
The government is set to take up a massive automation programme with financial assistance from the World Bank for nine state-owned banks to facilitate the central bank's monitoring.
To discuss the arrangement for the automation programme, Banking Division Secretary M Aslam Alam held a meeting with the chief executive officers of the banks on Sunday.
The estimated cost for the programme is $200 million, of which the WB will provide $150 million and the banks the remaining amount.
The approval for the $150 million from the WB board is likely to come by March, according to officials.
For modern banking, three-layer software is required. The main component is the core banking solution (CBS), using which all branches will be integrated online.
The state banks are still in a nascent stage with regards to automation, and the International Monetary Fund has been putting pressure on the government to accelerate the process.
The government has already made a commitment to the IMF that it will complete automation of at least four state-owned commercial banks by December this year.
But a banking division official said it would not be possible to complete the automation of the state banks before the end of 2017.
As of October last year, the CBS system has been introduced in 403 out of 1,207 branches of Sonali Bank, according to statistics from the banking division.
In case of Janata, 260 out of 901 branches have been automated. For Agrani, the number is 509 out of 927 branches, and for Rupali 134 out of 547.
Five more state banks will be brought under the automation programme including Krishi Bank and Karmasangsthan Bank. Most of the branches of these banks are yet to be automated.
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