Business Desk ;
Despite the Covid-19 situation, Eastern Bank Ltd has declared a 35% dividend – the highest in the last five years – to its shareholders for the financial year that ended on 31 December 2020.
Of the 35% dividend, 17.5% is cash, and 17.5% stock. This payout was determined, following the dividend ceiling set by Bangladesh Bank.
For the last financial year, only 15 of 31 listed banks have declared dividends. Of them, Eastern Bank declared the highest dividend payout.
Among the 14 other banks, Dutch Bangla Bank declared 30% dividends, Uttara Bank 25%, City Bank 22.5%, Premier Bank 20%, and Jamuna Bank declared 17.5% dividends to shareholders for financial year 2020. The rest of the banks declared lower dividends for that year.
Abdullah Al Mamun, company secretary of Eastern Bank, told The Business Standard that the bank always maintains good accounting policy to disburse handsome profits to its shareholders.
“Among the listed banks, Eastern Bank has the lowest non-performing loan (NPL) ratio of 2.72%. Also, the bank has sufficient retained earnings and provisioning for which it is less likely to face any liquidity crisis,” he added.
