Development of human capital is a must for sustainable growth of banks, speakers told a conference yesterday.

Banks can't achieve their objectives such as profit maximisation, improving market share and fulfilling social responsibility without an efficient workforce, said SK Sur Chowdhury, banking reform adviser of the Bangladesh Bank.

He made the remarks while chairing a session on human capital development on the concluding day of a two-day regional conference organised by the Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) at its auditorium in Dhaka.

The discussants suggested that banks make an adequate investment in developing human capital to get the best output, according to a press release of the BIBM.

In the day's first session chaired by Muhammad A (Rumee) Ali, chief executive officer of the Bangladesh International Arbitration Centre, delegates from South Asia presented papers on operational issues of banking.

Other papers were on credit risk management, foreign exchange, market risk management, financial inclusion and digital financial services and risk governance, and capital management.

Toufic Ahmad Choudhury, director general of the BIBM, and KL Dhingra, of the National Institute of Bank Management of India, were present as discussants, among others.