Dhaka, Oct. 31 -- The International Monetary Fund, or IMF, has sought from Bangladesh Bank details of measures to bring reforms to the banking sector, and control defaults, especially in the state-owned banks, and exchange rates.

The international financial institution also wanted to know whether Bangladesh Bank can penalise bankers for breaching rules during a meeting with the country's central bank in Dhaka on Sunday as talks on Bangladesh's request for loans worth $4.5 billion continued.

The daylong talks involved officials dealing with banking issues of different sections of the national bank. A meeting on monetary policy was held at Governor Abdur Rouf's office with officials from the IMF headquarters joining in virtually.

The mee...