Bangladesh Bank has decided to stop five public-facing services including selling savings certificates and prize bonds, and exchange of old/torn notes from its own counters from November 30, shifting them entirely to commercial banks to reduce public access to the central bank鈥檚 premises and strengthen security.
five walk-in services ends
- NSC and prize bond sales halted
- Damaged-note exchange counters closed
- Security risks cited for service closure
- Commercial banks to continue these services
- Existing NSC holders continue to get services until tenure
Governor Ahsan H Mansur instructed officials on November 9 to carry out the decision.
The move ends several decades of walk-in services at Motijheel and other branch offices.
For years, thousands of people have visited the Motijheel office for these services, most notably to exchange damaged notes.
The central bank鈥檚 spokesperson Areif Hossain Khan told 抖阴精品 that the decision is aimed at ending services that are not part of the central bank鈥檚 core role.
BB will stop selling national savings certificates, selling prize bonds, exchanging damaged notes, accepting treasury chalan, and providing change against such chalan.
These services will now be available only through commercial banks. The exchange of burned notes will remain with the central bank because of regulatory complications, he said.
Officials said customers who already hold savings certificates will continue to receive related services until their tenure ends.
They also said that the decision does not violate the agreement under which Bangladesh Bank has provided 10 public services since 1985.
The BB has informed the finance ministry and plans to issue a public notice soon, Areif Hossain said.
BB officials explained that Bangladesh Bank is designated as a Critical Public Installation.
Since highly sensitive operations like currency issuance and distribution, vault management, foreign reserve management and banking system control take place in the same building, unnecessary public gatherings pose security risks.
Past incidents such as the reserve heist, savings certificate fraud using fake identification, unauthorised photography and video recording inside the building, and altercations with security staff were cited as examples.
The counters handling torn or defective notes were the most used by the public.
Six counters dedicated to exchanging mutilated but payable notes will close on November 30.
After the change, Bangladesh Bank will continue offering five essential services through 16 counters, mainly for specialised transactions that cannot be shifted elsewhere.
With 62 scheduled banks offering these services, they said the public will have alternative access without needing to visit the central bank.
It said providing retail services such as savings certificates, prize bonds or torn-note exchange from the Motijheel office or other branches is not reasonable given the security concerns.
No central bank in the world provides such direct retail services to the public.
With more than 60 commercial banks operating in the country, they are fully capable of handling these services. Therefore, the public will not face any hardship.