Badiur Rahman, Chairman of Al-Arafah Islami Bank Limited, inaugurates the newly-installed ETT Machine at Dhaka National Medical Institute Hospital (DNMIH) Thursday.

Al-Arafah Islami Bank Limited donated 'ETT Machine' to Cardiology Department of Dhaka National Medical Institute Hospital (DNMIH) Thursday.

Badiur Rahman, Chair- man of the bank inaugurated the newly-installed ETT Machine at the hospital complex in Dhaka, said a press release Saturday.

A Rouf Chowdhury, Chairman of Bank Asia Limited, speaks at the Annual Business Conference-2013 of the bank at a hotel in Dhaka Saturday.

Bank Asia Limited organised the Annual Business Conference-2013 at a hotel in Dhaka Saturday.

A Rouf Chowdhury, Chairman of the Bank, inaugurated the conference, said a press release.

Mohd. Safwan Choudhury, and Mohammed Lakiotullah, Vice Chairmen, Rumee A Hossain, Chairman of Board Audit Committee, AM Nurul Islam and Shah Md. Nurul Alam, Directors, and Md. Mehmood Husain, President and Managing Director, were present.

Dr. Arif Dowla, Chairman of MTB Group, speaks at the annual business conference-2013 of the bank at a hotel in Dhaka Saturday.

Mutual Trust Bank Limited organised its annual business conference-2013 at a hotel in Dhaka Saturday.

Dr. Arif Dowla, Chairman of MTB Group attended the inaugural ceremony along with MTB directors Md. Wakiluddin, Khwaja Nargis Hossain, MA Rouf (JP), Anjan Chowdhury and QAFM Serajul Islam, said a press release.

Anis A. Khan, Managing Director and CEO, Md Ahsan-uz-Zaman, Additional Managing Director, Quamrul Islam Chowdhury and Md. Hashem Chowdhury, Deputy Managing Directors, and divisional and departmental heads, managers of MTB and Chief Executive Officers of the three subsidiaries - MTB Securities Ltd, MTB Capital Ltd and MTB Exchange (UK) Ltd were present.

The annual conference dwelt on the activities of the bank during the previous year and focused on the future business potential and growth. The theme for 2013 - "Towards MTB Shining" was unveiled at the event.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurates the 78th branch of Standard Bank Ltd at Tungipara, Patgati Bazar, Gopalgonj Saturday.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina inaugurated the 78th branch of Standard Bank Ltd as Chief Guest at Tungipara, Patgati Bazar, Gopalgonj Saturday.

Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed, President of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) and also the Chairman of the Bank presided over the function.

Ashok Kumar Saha, Vice Chairman, Ferozur Rahman, Harun Rashid Chowdhury, Md Faikuzzaman, Directors and high government officials of the country were present on the occasion as guests of honour.

SA Farooqui, Managing Director, Md Nazmus Salehin, Additional Managing Director, Md Abul Hossain, Deputy Managing Director, AFM Nizamul Islam Chowdhury, Group Company Secretary, Md. Nazrul Islam, EVP and clients, prominent industrialists, business personalities and local elites were present on the occasion.

Premier Bank yesterday filed a criminal case against nine of its officials for misappropriating nearly Tk 60 crore between 2011 and 2012.

The case was lodged with the Motijheel Police Station by a senior executive vice-president of the bank, the station's Officer-in-Charge Hayatuzzaman Mollah said.

Shahinur Rahman, the then Motijheel branch manager, sanctioned a loan of Tk 59.34 crore to Alppa Composite Towels Ltd, a concern of Bismillah Towels Group, by bypassing the standard procedure for loan approval, said Abu Hanif Khan, additional managing director of Premier Bank.

“Furthermore, he was negligent in recovery of the loan -- the payments became very

irregular.”

Rahman was handed over to the police yesterday for the charges, Khan said.

Prior to the arrest, Rahman had been posted to the bank's Mymensingh branch as its

manager.

The list of the accused includes one official from the bank's Mohammadpur branch, where the bank found a shortfall in cash.

The top officials of Alppa Composite, the borrowing company, were also among the accused.

It was alleged in some newspapers that the Premier Bank authorities confined some of the bank's officials at its headquarters in Banani on charges of fund misappropriation.

But the bank's additional MD denied the allegations, terming them to be “exaggerations”.

“They were simply called to the head office for interrogation,” said Khan, adding that the officials were given a month's time to recover the loan -- but they failed to.

But some officials of the bank's head office told The Daily Star otherwise: they said they heard about their colleagues' confinement.

Bhuiyan Mahbub Hasan, officer-in-charge of the Banani Police Station, told The Daily Star that no complaint was lodged about any confinement of bank officials.

“Higher-ups of the bank were quizzing those officials in the head office,” added Hasan.

HBM Iqbal, chairman of Premier Bank, did not respond to phone calls or text messages from The Daily Star.

Premier Bank, known as a third-generation private commercial bank, got the central bank licence in 1999, and has 64 branches across the country.

It was listed in 2007, with the bank's stock trading at Tk 15.80 on the Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday, down from the Tk 28.5 a share recorded in the March-April period of 2012.