A section of officials of Agrani Bank have alleged that they have been deprived of promotion for long. According to sources in the bank, several hundred people joined Agrani Bank as officers through the Bankers’ Recruitment Committee (BRC) of the Bangladesh Bank in 1998 and 2000, and some through the Agrani Bank in 2006.
Banking policy says that the authorities have to promote the officers every three years. But the officers who had joined through the BRC have allegedly got only two promotions in 19 years, the sources told The Independent. The management committee of the Agrani Bank promoted 754 officers to the post of principal officers on June 11, 2014. The aggrieved officers also alleged a discrepancy in the way the bank management committee calculates the period of service between two promotions.
“We got promotion in June. But the management is promoting other officers from January. So, we are always behind by five months. Following banking policy, we still have four promotions due,” an officer of Agrani Bank told this correspondent on condition of anonymity.
In 2013, some of the promoted officers had argued that if the bank management committee effected their promotions from January 1, 2014, they would be able to get their promotions this year. An official said the management committee promoted the officers who had joined as principal officers in 2012 to senior principal officers in 2016. The bank authority promoted them four years before their promotions due in 2020.
So, the officers requested the authorities concerned to consider their appeal and bring the promotions into effect from January 2014. The managing director and the CEO of Agrani Bank, Mohammad Shams-Ul Islam, told this correspondent that normally, the board of directors decided on promotions. He said he would look into the matter and bring it to the notice of the board of directors.