Staff Reporter :
Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Sunday said that Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL) has recently brought massive changes in its top management posts due to pressure by the Middle East-based shareholders of the bank.
“Foreign sponsors who had majority of the shares in the bank desired for changes in the bank’s top management forcing the bank’s board to make massive changes in its top brass,” said Muhith.
Changes have been made to the posts of the bank’s chairman, managing Director, Heads of various committees and chief of the Islami Bank Foundation at a meeting of the bank’s Board of Directors on Thursday.
Terming the change a “good sign” for the banking sector, Muhith said that the government was observing the current situation of the bank.
The Minister came up with the remarks while talking to reporters after a meeting with the leaders of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) yesterday.”There was a question over the use of the bank’s profits which used to be spent for a political party. I was notified by the IDB president that a Middle-East based financial institute used to handle this transaction,” Muhith said.
He mentioned that the financial institute is a shareholder and original partner of Islami Bank. Foreign sponsors had 52.16 per cent stakes in the bank, according to bank data.
On Thursday, Islamic Bank’s board of directors elected Arastoo Khan, a former member of the Planning Commission, as chairman of the bank. It also elected Abdul Hamid Miah, incumbent managing director of Union Bank, as the new MD.
Besides, former health secretary Syed Monjurul Islam and Islamic Foundation Bangladesh Director General Shamim Mohammad Afzal, were elected the new chairman and vice-chairman of Islami Bank Foundation.
Last year, four new independent directors were inducted in the bank’s board in accordance with orders from the government’s high-ups. IBBL is the largest Shariah-based bank in Bangladesh. Since its inception its board has been populated with people associated with the Islamist political party Jamaat-e-Islami.
