Whistleblowing At People’s Bank
By Jayasri Priyalal –September 14, 2016
Jayasri Priyalal
Issues get dramatized over facts often in news story lines. Insider information is valuable stuff similar to inside deals done in stock and bond exchanges for speculative gains through a commercial transaction. Many such stories were dominating in print and electronic media starting from theCentral Bank Bond scam to the recent unfolding of the tender irregularity inPeople’s Bank in Sri Lanka.
Such stories get twisted according to the power and influence of the actors involved to the issue and the case in connection. Freedom of expression underpinned in unbiased media freedom built on the principles of judicial independence is the ultimate dispute resolution framework available in any free and democratic societies to unearth truth.
Sri Lankans are generally good in finding problems in solutions, instead finding the right solutions for a problem. Peoples’ Bank’s advertisement that appeared in newspapers, explaining the banks position other than one newspaper group which unravelled scam is now debated in the parliament. Ideally, Peoples’ Bank should have clarified the position in a press release yet they opted to insert advertisements.
Banks are in trouble because they failed in their financial intermediation role badly, by not channelling credits to the areas that deserve investment to stimulate growth in the real economy. Instead banks opted to direct investments towards real estates, commodities to make quick gains in the low interest regimes.
In Sri Lanka, in the recent past banks have being engaged in many other businesses other than banking. Some of them are conducting lotteries, pawning, leasing and travel agencies. Short term profit motives guided the banks direction and they completely neglected the customer needs. As the banks failed to “Stick to the Knitting” the other businesses such as supper markets, mobile telecommunication companies and other non-banking entities grabbed the business opportunities of banks. If one refers to famous Michael Porters competitive advantage theory, banks never imagine of a threat of substitute, and were too comfortable with high entry barriers. In the ever expanding on demand digital economy, traditional agents and principle’s business relationship does not hold tight.
