Citizens Lender gets the ultimate nod from Bangladesh Bank

Image: Collected
The board awarded the licence to the proposed bank as its sponsors fulfilled all regulatory requirements

The Bangladesh Lender on Mon gave its final approval to Residents Bank, bringing the total number of scheduled banks in the united states to 61. 

The board awarded the licence to the proposed bank as its sponsors fulfilled all regulatory requirements, said Md. Serajul Islam, spokesperson of the BB.

While Citizen Bank got the ultimate approval, the bank would need to raise its paid-up capital to Tk500 crore before it begins operations, said a high official of the BB requesting anonymity.

Jahanara Huq, the mom of Laws Minister Anisul Huq, was the chairman of the proposed lender but after her loss of life, the BB on October approved Towfika Aftab as the chairman of the bank. Aftab was a director of the proposed lender.  

Therefore last month, Citizen Bank’s proposed managing director Saidul Hasan passed on from COVID-19. 

Before joining the proposed Citizen Lender, Hasan was the deputy MD of Dutch Bangla Lender.
 
The bank's new MD is Mohammad Masoom, a former additional managing director of Midland Lender.

“We would focus on SME financing,” he told Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The bank’s board of directors are well-educated and dynamic, he said.

“This would be a big strength for me personally in leading the lender,” he added.

In February, last year, the central bank decided to issue letters of intent (LoI) to three banks: Bengal Commercial Lender, People's Lender and Citizen Bank.

In February this season, the central bank gave the ultimate nod to Bengal Commercial Bank, which includes been initiated by Bengal Band of Industries, an area manufacturer of plastic products. 

The group’s vice-chairman Jashim Uddin will act as the chairman of the lender.

The central bank may award licences to the proposed People's Bank within the next board meeting, the BB official said.

There is no logic to approving more banks, said AB Mirza Azizul Islam, a former finance adviser to a caretaker government.

“The number of banks is already high -- we ought to think of regulations to force mergers for the prevailing ones, instead of establishing new banks,” he added.

The number of banks is high given how big is the economy and the surplus number of banks will make them food markets soon, said Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled, a former deputy governor of the BB.

By September, 11 banking institutions have failed to meet the minimum capital requirement of the central bank. 

The banks faced a combined capital shortfall of Tk 19,296 crore, in line with the most current data from BB.
Source: https://www.dhakatribune.com

Tags :

Share this news on:

Previous Story

Trending Topics

Archive