Cenbank now reconstitutes S Alam-controlled AIBL and Commerce Bank boards
The Bangladesh Bank issued separate notices to this end to authorities concerned today (3 September).
Logos of AIBL and BCB. Photos: Collected
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Logos of AIBL and BCB. Photos: Collected
The central bank has reconstituted the board of directors of Al-Arafah Islami Bank PLC (AIBL) and Bangladesh Commerce Bank Ltd – both controlled by scam-hit conglomerate S Alam group.
The Bangladesh Bank issued separate notices to this end to the managing directors of the said banks today (3 September).
These two banks are the latest to be freed from the control of the S Alam Group.
A total of eight independent directors have been appointed in the two banks and two directors appointed by the government have been retained.
Bangladesh Bank’s former executive director Ataur Rahman has been appointed as the chairman of the newly formed five-member board of directors of the Commerce Bank after dissolving the existing board, according to a notice.
Ataur has also been appointed as an independent director of the bank.
The other members of the board are Independent Director Md Mohashin Miah, former additional managing director of Meghna Bank; Director Kamrul Hoque Maruf, joint secretary of Financial Institutions Division; Director Golam Mortuza, former deputy managing director of Janata Bank; and Director Sheikh Ashrafuzzama, chartered accountant.
Meanwhile, another five-member board has been formed for AIBL after dissolving the bank’s existing board.
Khwaja Shahriar, former Managing Director of Lanka Bangla Finance, has been appointed as independent director and chairman of the new board.
Other independent directors appointed in the bank are – former BB executive director Md Shahin Ul Islam, former deputy managing director of NRB Bank Md Abdul Wadud, Professor at Dhaka University’s Department of Development Studies M Abu Yusuf and chartered accountant Mohammad Ashraful Hasan FCA.
In the last two weeks, the central bank reconstituted the boards of at least eight banks controlled by the Chattogram-based conglomerate.
On 20 August, the central bank reconstituted the board of the National Bank on the grounds of numerous irregularities for the third time.
On 22 August, the central bank dissolved Islami Bank’s board and appointed a new five-member board of directors. Later, on 25 August, Social Islami Bank’s board was reconstituted.
The boards of Union Bank and Global Islami Bank were reconstituted on 27 August and First Security Islami Bank on 1 September.
