Atiur Rahman

Atiur Rahman (Bengali: আতিউর রহমান; born 3 August 1951) is a Bangladeshi development economist, author, and banker. He served as the 10th Governor of Bangladesh Bank, the central bank of Bangladesh. He has been called "the banker of the poor" for his contributions in developing the Bangladeshi economy. Rahman is credited with instituting changes in the banking industry that greatly increased the country's foreign exchange reserves and brought automation and digitization in the banking sector. Achievements during his tenure include the creation of the National Payment Switch; introducing automated check clearing for banks using local currency cheques; starting mobile banking; establishing the Bangladesh Electronic Funds Transfer Network (BEFTN); and installing the Bangladesh Automated Clearing House (BACH). On 15 March 2016, he resigned as central bank governor after the cyber hacking and theft of US$101 million in foreign reserves from the Bangladesh Bank account held at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.