Bangladesh Bank clarified about its recent guidelines on bank officials’ salary structure and promotion.

In a circular on Tuesday, the central bank said it asked banks to not sack officials, stop promotion or force to resignfor failure to reach targets in the name of inefficiency.

Due to the partial presentation of the directive by some, the banks face difficulty to implement the guidelines, which is not acceptable, it said.

The central bank didn’t ask to promoteor not sackthe inefficient officials and employees on its January 20 circular, Bangladesh Bank said.

It said the banks can take actions against any officer or employee if there are specific charges as per their own service policy or guidelines.

On January 20, 2022, Bangladesh Bank also fixed minimum salaries for entry level bank officials for the first time in history in a bid to encourage talented youths to choose banking as a career.

The central bank said the entry level salary of assistant officers, trainee assistant officers, trainee assistant cash officers, or equivalent, would be a minimum of Tk 28,000 during the probation period.

After implementing the minimum salary structure, the banks will have to proportionally increase the salaries of officials who have been working in those positions, Bangladesh Bank said.

It also asked banks in the country to comply with the order from March 1 this year – a move that was critically received by the chief executives of some private banks.

The banking sector employed a total of 186,784 people in 2021.