The µþ²¹²Ô²µ±ô²¹»å±ð²õ³óÌýµþ²¹²Ô°ì on Sunday dissolved the boards of the Bangladesh Commerce Bank and the AL Arafah Islami Bank, and appointed independent directors to the banks’ boards.
The central bank informed the managing directors of the banks of its decision to place the institutions under new boards.
With this change, the Bangladesh Bank has now freed all the seven banks which were connected to S Alam Group.
This latest move follows the central bank’s actions to restructure the boards of Islami Bank Bangladesh, Social Islami Bank, First Security Islami Bank, Union Bank and Global Islami Bank, which were under S Alam Group’s control.
The BB also reshaped the boards of United Commercial Bank and National Bank, which were also connected to the Group.
The BB also reshaped Aviva Finance, owned by the group, and appointed five independent directors making Chartered Accountant Md Sadrul Huda as the chairman of the board.
The central bank appointed five independent directors to Bangladesh Commerce Bank and AL Arafah Islami Bank.
Khaja Shahriar, former managing director of Lanka Bangla Finance, has been named chairman of Al-Arafah’s new board.
The four other independent directors are former BB executive director Md Shahinul Islam, former NRB Bank deputy managing director Md Abdul Wadud, Dhaka University professor M Abu Yusuf and chartered accountant Mohammed Ashraful Ahsan.
For BCL, BB appointed former BB executive director Md Ataur Rahman, former Meghna Bank deputy managing director Md Mohsin Mia and chartered accountant Sheikh Asafuzzaman as independent directors.
Finance ministry joint secretary Kamrul Haq Maruf and Janata Bank DMD Golam Mortuza will remain as directors to the board.
Massive irregularities and loan anomalies occurred in these banks in recent years, BB officials said.
The S Alam Group, with the support from the ousted Awami League-led government, had taken control of six banks since 2017, ousting several founding shareholders and directors in the process.
The S Alam Group has been accused of engaging in widespread irregularities within these banks, particularly in recruitment and loan disbursement.
Bank officials claimed that the group withdrew about Tk 2 lakh crore in loans from the banking sector, mostly anonymously.
These loan irregularities have pushed these banks into a severe liquidity crisis, leaving its current account with the Bangladesh Bank in the red and forcing them to rely on central bank bailouts.
Meanwhile, Chattogram court on Monday ordered to remove Sayeed Hossain Chowdhury from the position of director at One Bank PLC in connection with a loan default case.