Dhaka, Sept. 19 -- Over the 36 days that it spanned, the July Uprising that uprooted the authoritarian regime of the Awami League last year didn't quite have the fate of the country's banking sector very high on its agenda for reforming the country. But as is well-known, the exit of the then-prime minister prompted a systemic collapse across the entire structure that sustained Sheikh Hasina's rule, from corrupt government officials who hollowed out the country's institutions to the politicians who were in her favour to the oligarchs who looted the nation's wealth at a scale perhaps unmatched anywhere in the world.

"This is the biggest, highest robbing of banks by any international standards. It didn't happen on that scale anywhere, and i...