National Bank Limited chairman Khalilur Rahman on Monday said that the bank has not been taken over by any business group, and directors have been appointed to the bank by the government.
At a press conference, Khalilur made the statement when reporters asked him about a speculation that the bank was occupied by an influential business group.
New NBL board held the press conference at its head office in the capital Dhaka on the day.
On Sunday, the Bangladesh Bank dissolved the board of National Bank and appointed a new 10-member board, with Khalilur as chairman.
The new board includes Ehsanul Karim nominated by Sundarban Consortium Limited, AKM Tofazzal Haque nominated by East Coast Holdings Ltd, Ershad Mahmud nominated by Stiches and Weave Limited and Md Reazul Karim nominated by KY Steel.
MD Helal Uddin Nazami of Chittagong University, chartered accountant Ratna Dutta and former Bangladesh Bank executive director ABM Zahirul Huda have been appointed as independent directors.
Moazzam Hossain and Md Shafiqur Rahman are the two other members of the reconstituted board. Moazzam and Shafiqur were on the dissolved board. The rest of the board members are new faces.聽
Khalilur also mentioned that the bank would not merge with any other bank and discussed the matter with the Bangladesh Bank.
NBL has been struggling with severe liquidity crisis as significant amount of loans became defaulted and depositors were continuously withdrawing deposits over merger discussions and various allegations of scams.
Against the backdrop, the Bangladesh Bank on December 21, 2023 dissolved the board of National Bank and reconstituted it.
Khalilur emphasised eradicating corruption by ensuring that those who took funds from the bank would return them.
He also said, 鈥榃hat happened before will not happen again, and there will be no corruption. Those who have taken money from the bank will have to return it. Within a year, we will be able to bring the bank back to its former state.鈥�
To bolster the bank鈥檚 financial position, he outlined plans to raise capital through shareholders and collect an additional Tk聽3,000 crore in deposits.
These efforts will be taken with the aim of resolving the bank鈥檚 current liquidity crisis, he said.
Established in 1983 as the first private bank in the country, National Bank currently has 221 branches and 65 sub-branches.
The bank has two subsidiaries in the country and four subsidiaries abroad.
Currently, the bank has 20 lakh depositors and 1 lakh borrowers.
