[Bangla Daily Star] Grameen Bank Inquiry Commission is set to recommend restructuring Grameen Bank in the shape of Bangladesh Shilpa Bank or Rural Electrification Board in order to give the government absolute control over the micro-lender.Grameen Bank is a microlender, formed outside Bangla govt channels, to make small loans to poor people without any collateral. It was founded in 1975 by Mohammed Yunus as a project to deliver banking services to the rural poor. In 2006 the bank and its founder were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, for what that's worth. The Bangla govt nudged him out of his place as head of the bank last year and now they're nationalizing it, so there must be a good-sized boodle there.
So they won't be a microlender much longer, at least when dispersing said boodle...
The recommendations will be unveiled at a workshop "Future Structure of Grameen Bank: Some Options" at the Biam auditorium in the capital on July 2. Finance Minister AMA Muhith will give the keynote speech there.
The government-sponsored commission has already sent invitations to a number of experts to attend the event, said sources.
Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus, the founder of Grameen Bank, termed the commission's suggestions completely irrelevant and unworkable.
"The government takeover of a sound financial institution owned by 8.4 million poor women will be a case of an extreme abuse of government power. Options offered by the Inquiry Commission are totally irrelevant and unworkable. They do not deserve to be discussed with any seriousness," he said.
According to the paper to be presented at the workshop, the Grameen Bank's legal structure should be similar to that of Bangladesh Shilpa Bank (BSB).
"In order to keep the Grameen Bank base of at least 540,000 shareholders under a single state institution, it would be necessary to amend the Grameen Bank Ordinance to bring it closer to the legal format of BSB," it said.