State Minister for Finance MA Mannan Sunday advised the state-owned Janata Bank to redouble efforts to reduce bad loans to a 'justifiable' level.

His advice came at the inaugural session of the bank's annual conference 2015 at a city hotel.

Officials, however, said classified loan of Janata Bank was lessened from 10.85 per cent in 2013 to 10.34 per cent in the last year 2014.

The state minister also urged the state-owned banks to work shoulder-to-shoulder with private commercial banks in the financial sector for the betterment of the country.

The bank's director Nagibul Islam Dipu said that the state-owned banks were performing well and even Janata Bank officials exceeded targets, but their salary is lower than that of the private banks.

Mr Dipu requested the state minister to take measures in this connection.

Deposit of the Janata Bank was raised to Tk 516 billion in 2014 from Tk 479 billion in 2013.

The target of its operating profit was achieved by 96 per cent to Tk 10.53 billion, which was Tk 12.12 billion in the previous year.

In 2014, the bank's non-interest income was Tk 8.2 billion, which was 112 per cent of its target set for the year. It was Tk 8.35 billion in the previous year.

Representatives from different area offices of the banks cited their various problems including lack of manpower and computer-literate persons.

The management advised them to overcome the problems while warning of actions if they hide any information relating to the loan disbursement, especially in case of local influential persons and non-exploitation of business potentials at the respective regions.

Janata Bank chairman Shaikh Md Wahid-Uz-Zaman presided over the annual conference.

News:Financial Express/26-Jan-2015