Central bank governor Salehuddin Ahmed said Saturday more time would be needed to cut bank interest rates, reports bdnews24.com.

"We cannot just ask the banks to lower the rates. Talks were held with bankers and they agreed to make an arrangement," the central banker told reporters after inaugurating a workshop on corporate governance co-organised by Global Corporate Governance Forum (GCGF) and Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI).

Ahmed said the central bank had also asked the banks to review their service charges. "Charges have already been rationalised," he added. "But we have to make sure that the whole process of lowering interest rates does not lead to cuts in deposit interest rates," said the Bangladesh Bank governor.

The workshop titled "Training of Trainers—Corporate Governance Board Leadership Programme" is meant to develop skills needed to lead director education programmes castomised for emerging markets.

Directors, academics and practitioners from Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives are attending the three-day training programme.

In his speech as chief guest, the Bangladesh Bank chief said governance is an important issue of the time, especially in the context of a developing country such as Bangladesh. "Its importance for a free democracy and accelerating economic progress and poverty reduction in Bangladesh can be hardly disputed," he said.

Ahmed identified transparency as an essential tool to ensure good governance in financial institutions. "It (transparency) is an inclusive concept which requires loyalty, faithfulness, allegiance and dependability.

Operators in financial institutes should be faithful as the service depends greatly on the traits that constitute transparency," he said. BEI president Farooq Sobhan, GCGF senior projects officer Gene Spiro also spoke at the workshop at the BEI.