Bangladesh Bank has decided to suspend five retail services offered to the public, including savings bonds and prize bonds, starting from November 30. Multiple sources within the bank have revealed that this decision has been made in order to reduce security risks, modernise the building, and enhance vault facilities.
Arif Hossain Khan, Executive Director and Spokesperson of Bangladesh Bank, confirmed that these services will cease at the bank’s Motijheel headquarters and other branches. The Ministry of Finance has been notified, and a public notice will soon be issued to inform the public about the changes.
Currently, Bangladesh Bank provides ten types of services through 28 counters, including the exchange of savings bonds, prize bond sales, defective note exchanges, PAD (Payment Against Documents) transactions, and change for bills. Of these, five services will be discontinued. The 12 counters used for these services will also be closed. However, an internal counter will remain open for transactions related to savings bonds, prize bonds, or bills, for official purposes.
The decision comes after a series of meetings over the past few months, where the matter was thoroughly reviewed. On June 22, the Governor of Bangladesh Bank inspected the cash department and highlighted several security concerns. A committee formed after this inspection submitted its report in September.
The report noted that Bangladesh Bank’s main building falls under the KPI (Key Performance Indicators) security policy, and sensitive activities such as currency issuance, vault operations, foreign reserve management, and banking oversight are conducted there. Excessive public gatherings in the building were found to be increasing security risks, with past incidents including reserve hacking, savings bond fraud, photography and video recording inside the premises, and disputes with security personnel.
The report further mentions that services like selling savings bonds and prize bonds can be easily provided through the branches of over 60 commercial banks across the country. Additionally, no central bank globally directly offers such retail services to the public. Therefore, the discontinuation of these services will not cause significant inconvenience to the public.
Although the sale of savings bonds will cease, services related to previously issued bonds will remain operational until their maturity. After maturity, these bonds cannot be reinvested. Other services, such as changing bank accounts related to old savings bonds, updating mobile numbers, adding or changing nominees, handling transactions through nominees after the death of the bondholder, early encashment, and legal proceedings, will continue as usual.