A Letter to the Honorable Sheikh Hasina, Prime Minister of Bangladesh, on Grameen Bank

Dear Prime Minister Hasina: As Members of the United States Congress, we write to urge you to reject the recent recommendations of the Grameen Bank Commission that would jeopardize the role Grameen Bank has played in the critical fight to end poverty in Bangladesh. Grameen Bank has delivered a profound and lasting benefit to the people of Bangladesh. It has allowed millions to lift themselves and their families out of poverty and destitution, creating an independent, borrower-run company that is a model for non-governmental organizations across the globe. Its borrowers Sincerely, 97 percent of whom are women have demonstrated the power of an economic model centered on equality and inclusion. Both Bangladesh and the international community have a compelling interest in the safety and soundness of Grameen Bank. However, we are profoundly troubled by recent proposals that would fundamentally alter the future of this Nobel Prize-winning institution. The Grameen Bank Commission, which was created in May 2012 to offer guidance on the future of Grameen Bank, recently provided the Bangladeshi government with several sets of recommendations. One set would disenfranchise nearly 5 million borrower-shareholders in Grameen Bank and dismiss the borrowers who sit on the Banks Board of Directors, replacing them with government officials. A second equally devastating set would give the government a formal majority stake in Grameen Bank, or would break the Bank apart into separate entities with no legal relationship between them. We believe the implementation of any of these recommendations would be disastrous. Such action would undermine the women borrowers and shareholders who have made the Bank such a success and would compromise the independence that has protected Grameen Bank from political turmoil over the last three decades. You have committed to combatting poverty and expressed a desire to keep Grameen Bank healthy and stable for generations to come. We share those goals, and as such, we urge you to reject the recommendations of the Grameen Bank Commission and any other effort that would injure this critical institution and the Bangladeshi people.

United States Senator

Barbara Boxer

United States Senator

Michael B. Enzi

United States Senator

Barbara Mikulski

United States Senator

John Boozman

United States Senator

Richard J. Durbin

United States Senator

Mark R. Warner

United States Senator

Tim Johnson

United States Senator

Jeanne Shaheen

United States Senator

Dianne Feinstein

United States Senator

Amy Klobuchar

United States Senator

Patty Murray

Richard Blumenthal
United States Senator

United States Senator

Mary L. Landrieu

Benjamin L. Cardin
United States Senator

United States Senator

Sherrod Brown

United States Senator

Al Franken

Member of Congress

Rosa L. DeLauro

Member of Congress

Nita M. Lowey

Member of Congress

Keith Ellison

Michael M. Honda
Member of Congress

Eddie Bernice Johnson

Member of Congress

Member of Congress

Rush Holt

Member of Congress

Jim Matheson

Member of Congress

Betty McCollum

Member of Congress

Jim McDermott

James P. McGovern
Member of Congress

Member of Congress

Grace Meng

Member of Congress

Gwen Moore

Janice D. Schakowsky
Member of Congress

Member of Congress

Joseph Crowley

Member of Congress

Chris Van Hollen

Member of Congress

Erik Paulsen

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