Staff Reporter :
The National Bank’s new board of directors will bring in Tk1,000 crore to help resolve the ongoing crisis at the bank, the new board Chairman Khalilur Rahman said on Monday.
At a press conference with reporters, Khalilur said he would collect a capital of Tk3,000 crore required to solve the bank’s crisis through deposit campaigns, while in the initial stage, a Tk1,000 capital will be provided by the directors and shareholders.
Earlier on Sunday (5 May), the Bangladesh Bank dissolved the National Bank’s board for the second time in four and a half months.
The central bank formed a new board of directors headed by Khalilur Rahman, a longstanding entrepreneurial shareholder of National Bank, who is also the chairman of the KDS Group.
Khalilur also said the National Bank has not been taken over. The new directors have been appointed to the bank by the government.
Asked if the National Bank will go for a merger, he said, “We have talked with the central bank. We will not go for a merger. We will turn the National Bank around with our own efforts without a merger.”
“Whatever has happened, happened. There will be no more looting. Those who have loaned money from the bank will have to return it.
“Within a year, we will be able to take the bank back to its previfsous state.”
An initial proposal was made to merge National Bank with United Commercial Bank (UCB). In response, the National Bank board decided on 28 April that they do not want to merge.
In 2023, National Bank reported a loss of Tk1,497 crore. The previous year, its loss was Tk3,285 crore.
Who are the new directors?
According to central bank sources, most of the new representative directors and independent directors of the new board are from a group based in Chattogram.
Seven of the ten members of the new board have been reappointed by the central bank.
Among them, Mohammad Riazul Karim, former managing director of Premier Bank, has become the representative director. He holds a post at a sister concern of the KDS Group where Khalilur Rahman is chairman.
Another representative director is Ershad Mahmud. He is the brother of Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud. His ancestral home is Rangunia upazila of Chattogram. He has also become the director of National Bank through a business organisation in Chattogram.
Ehsanul Karim, senior advocate of the Bangladesh Supreme Court, has become the representative director by representing a company on behalf of a group based in Chattogram, where he also works as a lawyer for another group.
Another representative director is Professor AKM Tofazzal Haque of Chittagong University. He also joined as a representative of a group based in Chattogram.
Additionally, Professor Helal Uddin Nizami of the same university became one of the three independent directors. Another one is Chartered Accountant Dr Ratna Dutta. Her husband Subrata Kumar Bhowmik is the executive director of a large group based in Chattogram.
Apart from this, another independent director is ABM Zahurul Huda. He is the former executive director of the Bangladesh Bank. He is currently the head of a training institute of a large group of banks based in Chattogram. The other members of the board include two members of the previous board.
