National Bank board reformed again as chairman, 3 directors step down

The bank has made headlines recently amid a spree of mergers

Bangladesh Bank has dissolved the board of directors of National Bank around four and a half months after reforming it.

The central bank appointed Sponsor Director Khalilur Rahman as the head of the embattled bank’s board on Sunday after its chairman Syed Ferhat Anwar and three directors stepped aside.

The Bangladesh Bank informed the commercial bank about the reformation of the board in a letter. It did not issue any official statement.

Ferhat told bdnews24.com over the phone later at night that he was unable to speak at length as he was attending a seminar abroad. “We’ve resigned from the National Bank,” he said.

Asked why they quit just four and a half months after taking the reins, he said: “The Bangladesh Bank will give the answer. You may ask the central bank.”

Central bank spokesman Mezbaul Haque did not return phone calls for comments.

Ferhat was the first from outside the Sikder family to be appointed as chairman in December 2023 in a long time after the Sikder Group took control of the bank in 2009.

When he presented the proposal on a merger amid scams in March, the board of directors was split.

At that time, the Bangladesh Bank reportedly began mediation between National Bank, the first Bangladeshi private bank founded by a set of entirely local sponsor directors in 1983, and United Commercial Bank Limited or UCB, another bank formed the same year.

The National Bank initially appeared to agree with the Bangladesh Bank on a possible merger with another bank, but its directors finally decided not to set the plan in motion for now.

Ferhat had earlier confirmed the denial after the four-decade old bank, riddled with loan scams and irregularities, showed some improvements last year by halving its annual losses to Tk 15 billion after suffering Tk 32.61 billion losses in 2022 – meaning total Tk 47.6 billion losses in two years.

Ferhat, a former Dhaka University professor, had taken charge in December after serving as an independent director of Meghna Bank.

The three others who stepped down with Ferhat are Parveen Haque Sikder, the only remaining member of the Sikder family on the board, independent director and former Bangladesh Bank executive director Sirajul Islam, and former Southeast Bank managing director M Kamal Hossain.

After Parveen’s resignation, Sikder Insurance-nominated Shafiqur Rahman and sponsor shareholder Moazzem Hossain have remained on the board.

The new faces are independent director Helaluddin Nizami, a former commissioner of Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission and professor of Chattogram University, chartered accountant Ratna Dutta, and former Bangladesh Bank executive director Zahurul Huda.

The directors nominated as representatives are Chattogram University Professor AKM Tofazzal Haque, former Premier Bank managing director Mohammad Reazul Karim, businessman Ershad Mahmud and lawyer Ehsanul Karim.