Now NBFIs asked to prepare citizen charters
Earlier in the month, the central bank asked banks to prepare citizen charters so that clients will be able to get financial services smoothly
The Bangladesh Bank has directed non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) to prepare citizen charters to inform people about their services and what to do if the services are not delivered as promised.
In a circular on Thursday, the central bank said citizen charter should be prepared to maintain transparency and order in the services of financial institutions.
Apart from this, the citizen's charter needs to be implemented in order to ease getting service-related information and increase the accountability of officers and employees at NBFIs.
The citizen's charter is a document of commitments made by either government or private organisations to the citizens or client groups in respect of the services being provided to them or to be provided to them.
Earlier in the month, the central bank asked banks to prepare citizen charters so that clients will be able to get financial services smoothly.
According to Thursday's circular, citizen charters should be prepared to categorise all the services, qualifications and documents required to receive the services.
The preparation process of the documents, the minimum required time for each service, the service fee and what to do if a citizen does not receive the service should also be included in the charter.
The circular further states that the citizen charters shall be uploaded on the websites of the financial institutions with the latest updates and shall be displayed at a visible place in the head office and every branch.
NBFIs will have to nominate a focal point officer and an alternate focal point officer related to the citizen's charter and their names, phone numbers and email addresses should be made available.
Along with this, a citizen charter box or corner should be set up on the financial institution's websites. All information related to the citizen's charter should be uploaded in the citizen corner.
A seven-member committee and a cell shall be constituted at the head office of every financial institution. This committee will work on the implementation of the programme according to the plan.
After scrutiny, the citizen's service report should be uploaded on the website of the concerned cell on a quarterly basis.
Financial institutions must conduct annual training for their officials on the implementation of the citizen's charters.