Trusting the banks
30 April, 2009 – Our banks, perhaps more than any other institution, need to convince clients that their money and their interests are safe.
The regularity with which they are conned into giving public money away to cheats is jarring people’s confidence. And that is a cause for concern.
Kuensel has found that a driver and his wife have forged documents and seals of government agencies to steal Nu 300,000 from BNB as GE loans. The crime, apparently, was not discovered through the efficiency of BNB’s management system, or even immediately, but when the bank’s staff checked with the agencies after about a month and learned that the couple had faked them. (See story).
The culprits have been arrested. But, even as we appreciate the action taken, we wonder what else might be going on in our banking institutions. In 2006, BNB’s own employees had stolen Nu 17 million from it – from its GE loan portfolio – by creating fictitious clients. The bank has never got back most of that money and the embezzlers has been sentenced to terms as high as 200 years in prison.
While the amount of the recent GE loan scam may be little compared to the previous one, what it indicates is that our banks have much to do. That our banks wants to establish an image of security is particularly important for Bhutan because the banking culture is low and most Bhutanese are yet to gain enough confidence to make best use of this institution.
These crimes also come at a time when many Bhutanese, being unable to read and write, still use their thumbprints as a signature to complete formalities. A portion of the clientele has no choice but to trust bank officials with their savings or even look up to them for help in organising their finances.
Most educated Bhutanese too trust their banks with their salary deductions that go to repay their loans. They hardly ever ask how it’s done, or calculated, or how much they will end up paying.
The concerned authorities must see that such trust of the clients is not abused.
You don’t put robbers to work in a bank
Source: Kuenselonline