The central bank has warned the commercial banks against poor recovery of classified and written-off loans and asked them to intensify the recovery drives if they like to avert stern actions.

Bangladesh Bank (BB) issued the warning at a meeting with 20 banks on their loan recovery position at the central bank headquarters in the capital Monday, with deputy governor SK Sur Chowdhury in the chair.

Chief executive officers (CEOs) and managing directors (MDs) of the banks, which were identified for their poor loan recovery performances, took part at the review meeting, officials said.

The BB's move came against the backdrop of poor recovery of both classified and written-off loans during the October-December quarter of last year.

During the period under review, all 57 scheduled banks recovered Tk 33.86 billion, which was only 5.15 per cent of total non-performing loans (NPLs) amounting to Tk 658.08 billion as on September 30, 2016.

At the same time, the banks realised Tk 2.83 billion or 0.82 per cent of the total written-off loans of Tk 344.38 billion, according to the BB's latest statistics.

"We've asked the banks to intensify their recovery drives across the country. Otherwise, their capital shortfall will go up further and they may face financial problem," Mr. Sur Chowdhury told the FE.

He said the CEOs have the responsibility to recover such loans. "We may take action against the CEOs if necessary."

At the meeting, the BB advised the banks to appoint senior lawyers to settle legal problems and gear up their loans recovery drives, according to the BB officials.

The senior bankers informed the meeting that they were facing legal complexities in recovering the NPLs and written-off loans.

The banks have also been advised to take help from the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in case of allegations of irregularities, they added.

The BB asked the banks to submit their quarterly recovery reports on NPLs and written-off loans to their board of directors so that the boards could take necessary measures.

Talking to the FE, a senior official of the BB said the central bank also asked the banks to provide recovery reports on NPLs and written-off loans properly to the designated BB department.

"The banks are taking very focused approaches in recovering the problem loans by increasing their day-to-day monitoring on their customers' loan accounts, particularly the large borrowers," Golam Hafiz Ahmed, MD and CEO of the NCC Bank Limited, told the FE.

The senior banker expressed the hope that the recovery of such loans would be improved in the coming quarters.

A K M Shameem, MD and CEO of the Farmers Bank Limited, said the banks will have to strengthen their recovery drives for their own survival.

The central bank had introduced the guidelines for writing off the classified loans in 2003, aiming to improve the loan recovery and make the financial statements of the banks more transparent and accountable.

Under the existing provisions, the bad loan portfolios remaining for a period longer than five years will come under the provision of written-off bad loans.

Before making any final decision on writing off any loan, the bank management has to ensure 100 per cent provisioning against the amount being written off.

On the other hand, the volume of NPLs jumped by more than 21 per cent to Tk 621.72 billion as on December 31 last year from Tk 513.71 billion on the same day of the previous year, the BB data showed.

The share of NPLs also came down to 9. 23 per cent during the October-December quarter of last year from 10.34 per cent three months back. It was 8.79 per cent as on December 31, 2015.

NRB Commercial Bank Ltd has stepped into the fifth year today, as it officially started its transactions on April 18, 2013.

Marking the occasion in a befitting manner, the bank has chalked out elaborate programmes at  all its branches across the country.

In an exclusive interview with daily sun at the bank’s head office in the city yesterday, Dewan Mujibur Rahman, managing director and CEO of the bank, thanked its directors, sponsors, customers, employees and stakeholders of the bank on the occasion.

He said NRBC Bank could secure a prominent and respectful position in the banking industry of the country as an emerging banking institution with innovative and modern banking services tailored to the needs of people of all strata.

Mujibur claimed that NRBC Bank reached a significant milestone with its agent banking and  the Wall Street Journal ran a news item about its agent banking on April 11.

 “NRBC Bank has been contributing to financial inclusion of the unbanked, or those who are far from bank branches, through its agent banking”, he continued.  The managing director said though the Bangladesh economy passed through various challenges in the previous years; we could open some 11 new branches at different locations of the country. “We have now 51 branches and want to reach mass people at different corners of Bangladesh quickly and provide them with  quality banking services,” he added.

He said NRBC Bank has so far reached over 1,30,000 of different types of accounts with 58.72 percent growth and the deposit of the bank was Tk.4559.05 crore, increased by 52.08 percent, while loans and advance was Tk.3740.79 crore with 61.05 percent growth with minimum NPL.

“As per SME rating of Bangladesh Bank, NRBC Bank was in the fifth position among all banks.

And the bank was also awarded Appreciation Letter by the central bank for achieving ‘Agricultural Credit Target’,” he added.

Mujibur said, “We kept diversification of our credit portfolio in different business sectors and industrial besides encouraging extending loans to different green finance, women entrepreneurs and agriculture sectors.”

In response to a query, he explained as we focused on popularisation of our Plastic Money products, we founded some 39 ATM booths and our different types of cards was over 20,000.

Expressing his optimism, he said his bank will be able to set up at least 10 more branches all over the country in the current year.

“We would like to reach every corner of our country with quality services and assistance to our regular business clients, focusing more on small, medium and micro credit industry”, he expected.

Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL) has reduced cash dividend for its shareholders for the year of 2016 in order to strengthen its capital base.

The news on dividend cuts was met with little enthusiasm by investors on the Dhaka Stock Exchange.

It was learnt that the board of directors declared 10 percent dividend in 2016 as the bank had to mobilise capital of around Tk 1300 crore in 2016, which was almost double than that of the previous year’s amount.

For the additional capital mobilisation, the bank had to buffer capital conservation, mobilise adequate capital against the risky assets and had to fill up the capital deficit for last year’s cash dividend.

Bank sources said they had to manage around Tk 600 crore for capital mobilisation last year which doubled in 2016.

According to IBBL officials, the main focus of the board of director of Islami Bank is to strengthen the capital base of the bank following the Bangladesh Bank direction in line with the Basel-3.

The IBBL board of directors announced 10 percent cash dividend for the shareholders for the year 2016 subject to approval of the 34rd annual general meeting of the bank.

The decision came from a meeting of the board held at Islami Bank Tower on March 30, 2017, with its Chairman Arastoo Khan in the chair.

Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL) has reduced cash dividend for its shareholders for the year of 2016 in order to strengthen its capital base.

The news on dividend cuts was met with little enthusiasm by investors on the Dhaka Stock Exchange.

It was learnt that the board of directors declared 10 percent dividend in 2016 as the bank had to mobilise capital of around Tk 1300 crore in 2016, which was almost double than that of the previous year’s amount.

For the additional capital mobilisation, the bank had to buffer capital conservation, mobilise adequate capital against the risky assets and had to fill up the capital deficit for last year’s cash dividend.

Bank sources said they had to manage around Tk 600 crore for capital mobilisation last year which doubled in 2016.

According to IBBL officials, the main focus of the board of director of Islami Bank is to strengthen the capital base of the bank following the Bangladesh Bank direction in line with the Basel-3.

The IBBL board of directors announced 10 percent cash dividend for the shareholders for the year 2016 subject to approval of the 34rd annual general meeting of the bank.

The decision came from a meeting of the board held at Islami Bank Tower on March 30, 2017, with its Chairman Arastoo Khan in the chair.

Directors from home and abroad and Md. Abdul Hamid Miah, managing director of the bank, among others, were present at the meeting.

The meeting approved the profit and loss account and balance sheet for the year 2016 ended on  December 31.

The board also decided to hold the 34rd AGM of the bank on May 23, 2017. The record date for entitlement of dividend has been fixed on April 23, 2017.
In 2005, the bank declared 20 percent cash dividend for its shareholders.

Currently, the sponsor-directors own 61.68 per cent stake in the bank, while institutional investors 5.38 per cent, foreigners 15.15 and the general public 17.79 per cent as on March 31, 2017, the DSE data shows.

Directors from home and abroad and Md. Abdul Hamid Miah, managing director of the bank, among others, were present at the meeting

The meeting approved the profit and loss account and balance sheet for the year 2016 ended on  December 31.

The board also decided to hold the 34rd AGM of the bank on May 23, 2017. The record date for entitlement of dividend has been fixed on April 23, 2017.
In 2005, the bank declared 20 percent cash dividend for its shareholders.

Currently, the sponsor-directors own 61.68 per cent stake in the bank, while institutional investors 5.38 per cent, foreigners 15.15 and the general public 17.79 per cent as on March 31, 2017, the DSE data shows.

Rupali Bank Managing Director and CEO Md Ataur Rahman Prodhan and Japan Remit Finance Co., Ltd (JRF) President Sarwar Sunny Hossain exchange documents after signing an agreement at JRF head office at Tokyo in Japan on Sunday.

Japan Remit Finance Co. Limited (JRF) signed an agreement with Rupali Bank Limited for remittance drawing arrangement between the two organisations at JRF head office in Tokyo on Sunday.

Managing Director and CEO of Rupali Bank Limited Md Ataur Rahman Prodhan and President of Japan Remit Finance Co., Ltd (JRF) Sarwar Sunny Hossain signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations, said a press release.

Fayaz Alam, Director of JRF Masahiko Watanabe and high officials of JRF were present on the occasion.
JRF is an international money transfer company established in 2011. Due to sign of the agreement with JRF, Bangladeshi expatriates can easily send their foreign remittance from Japan and other countries of the world through JRF outlets/agents to their beneficiaries’ accounts maintained with 563 branches of Rupali Bank Ltd.