Last Friday (10 April), Bangladesh’s finance minister announced the government would amend the country’s Bank Resolution Ordinance and create a legal pathway for former bank owners to reclaim control of distressed banks currently under resolution.

The move was a stunning reversal from last year’s legally dubious merger of five banks by then-Bangladesh Bank governor Ahsan Mansur.

Mansur, part of Muhammad Yunus’s interim government, had been the face and voice of a wide-reaching campaign that targeted a select group of Bangladeshi conglomerates. Under his guidance, the Bangladesh Bank worked to strip these banks from their owners, dissolve and reappoint board members, and consolidate them under one roof.

Now, the move by Bangladesh’s recently elected government appears to acknowledge that Mansur’s efforts were a gross overstep, if not outright illegal. The reversal also reveals that the country’s economic future is better served if the government can reinvest the money it would have spent merging the banks elsewhere. In Parliament, Finance Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury argued that the government has and would spend billions more in what was projected to be a two-year project.

The government’s decision doesn’t mean these banks will simply be handed back to their former owners and all will be forgotten. Rather, the requirements to regain control are stringent and are designed to ensure long-term stability of the previously distressed assets.

Former owners must apply to the Bangladesh Bank to reacquire their shares and pledge to repay all funds, provide fresh capital, and restore financial stability. This must include settling all depositor and creditor liabilities, pay outstanding taxes, and completely rehaul risk management and compliance frameworks. If approved, they would pay 7.5% of the amount injected by the Bangladesh Bank with the remaining 92.5% paid back over a two-year period at 10% interest.

Despite this comprehensive framework, critics and members of the media have come out hard and fast against the changes, waging what looks more and more like a concerted campaign against the amendment.

The Daily Star has been one notable critic, publishing several negative editorials in quick succession against the amendment. One noted that the plans were a “gross error of judgement” and demanded the government “promptly amend” the act. Another that the amendments “represents surrender”.

The outlet is, curiously, owned by Transcomm Group, a large conglomerate but with limited banking assets. A highly cynical view could hold that, given the government’s desire to re-privatize these banks, a large conglomerate lacking banking assets might be miffed to have missed out.

Despite the editorial position, the wider public would seem to support the government’s recent move. Even on the Daily Star’s own Facebook post announcing news of the changes, users were quick to praise the government’s shift. “Finally, stability over chaos!” wrote one. Another added that the move “will help to gain depositor trust”.

That was a point echoed by Finance Minister Chowdhury who noted that shareholders and other small investors in the banks shouldn’t be punished for the failures of board-level management.

As the issue moves on, many are looking forward to putting an era of instability and chaos behind them. On the news, one user noted that the law was “necessary”, praising it for eliminating the doubt “created in the banking sector by the former failed governor, Mansur”.