The Bankers’ Selection Committee of Bangladesh Bank (BB) yesterday scrapped professional recruitment tests for eight state-owned banks and financial institutions that were held on last Friday. After a committee meeting, Abul Kalam Azad, general manager of BB, said new dates would be announced soon.

A large number of candidates could not find places to sit at two centres in Mirpur of the capital. Nearly 6,000 candidates could not sit for the tests.  The irate candidates demonstrated outside the exam halls and damaged the

centres. Later, the committee said another test would be held on January 20 for those who could not sit for the exams.

However, the authorities concerned yesterday scrapped all the tests held in 61 centres across Dhaka.

Azad said a panel, led by BB executive director Ahmed Jamal, has already been asked to submit its report on the exam fiasco within two weeks. The probe body comprises representatives from state-owned Sonali Bank, Janata Bank, Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank and the finance ministry, he added.

The BB general manager will serve as its member secretary.

Dhaka University’s management department was given the  job to conduct the tests in which over a million job-seekers had applied for 7,372 posts in eight state-owned banks and financial institutions -- Sonali Bank, Janata Bank, Rupali Bank, Bangladesh Development Bank Limited, Bangladesh Krishi Bank, Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank, Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB) and Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation.