MA Mannan, state minister for finance; Shaikh Md Wahid-uz-Zaman, chairman of Janata Bank, and Md Abdus Salam, managing director, attend the annual meeting of the bank at Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka yesterday. 

Janata Bank's default loans decreased 0.77 percentage points due to better recovery. The bank's defaults were Tk 3,306 crore or 10.34 percent of its total loans in December 2014, compared to 11.11 percent in the same month of the previous year, according to statistics disclosed at the bank's Annual Conference yesterday.

Md Abdus Salam, managing director of the bank, said defaults were much lower than state banks' average rate of 20 percent.

Janata's performance was mixed in 2014 but it does not have any provision shortfall at present and its capital adequacy ratio stands at 10.30 percent, against a minimum requirement of 10 percent, Salam said.

In 2014, Janata realised Tk 885 crore against its classified loans, which is almost 85 percent of its annual target.

The bank made an operating profit of Tk 1,053 crore in 2014, which was 13 percent lower than in the previous year.

However, the managing director said among the state owned banks, Janata succeeded in bagging the highest profit.

The bank realised Tk 261 crore in cash from the written-off loans, and the number of its loss-making branches is now 60 out of a total of 904 branches, said Salam. It aims to turn 50 percent of those into profit-making units this year. Due to the finance ministry's reservation, Janata Bank could distribute only Tk 13.84 crore against a target of disbursing Tk 35 crore under its corporate social responsibility.

Shaikh Md Wahid-Uz-Zaman, chairman of Janata, said alongside widening the bank's scope in online services, it will ensure modern banking services to its customers in remote areas through green banking, internet banking and mobile banking.

MA Mannan, state minister for finance, urged bank officials to provide high-quality services to customers using information technology. The government will not intervene in the day-to-day operations of the banks, he added.

The state minister said the present government is a reformist one; however, mistakes happen when reforms are made hastily.