Dhaka, Nov. 28 -- If global financial crises had a museum, Bangladesh's banking sector would require its own wing. Inside that wing would stand an exhibit labelled "Defaulted Loans: A Living Fossil," with blinking lights marking the astonishing rise of nonperforming loans while the rest of the world, including countries at war, somehow keep theirs in check.

The irony is sharp enough to slice through ledgers. Ukraine, battered by nearly four years of full scale war, still maintains a default rate of 26 percent. Bangladesh, untouched by foreign invasion but scarred by something more elusive and far more persistent, has soared to nearly 36 percent. That number represents not just a structural failure but a cultural one.

The contrast is alm...