Sonali Bank Managing Director Md Afzal Karim will step in as interim chairman until a replacement is found
Published : 31 Jan 2024, 05:50 PM
Chowdhury Nafeez Sarafat has resigned from his role as Chairman of Padma Bank citing ‘health issues’.
The development comes five years after Farmers Bank sank deep into financial turmoil and loan scandals and was rebranded as Padma Bank.
He stepped down amid fresh discussions on a proposal to convert government deposits - which the Padma Bank used up during its restructuring but failed to return - into shares.
The Padma Bank Board of Directors has accepted his resignation, Bangladesh Bank Executive Director and Spokesman Mezbaul Haque said on Wednesday.
However, the board was not dissolved, he said. “Sonali Bank Managing Director Md Afzal Karim will step in as the acting chairman of Padma Bank until a replacement is found.”
Attempts to reach Sarafat for comments were unsuccessful.
A national daily cited Sarafat as saying that he was currently in the United States and had undergone a surgery.
It would take ‘several months’ for him to recover fully and he stepped aside from his position so the operations of the bank were not hindered, it added.
However, a businessman told bdnews24.com that Sarafat was in Bangladesh on Tuesday night and they met at a business meeting at a hotel in Dhaka as well.
So the news that he had gone abroad “could be misinformation”.
Another source with extensive knowledge of the banking sector said Sarafat “had to relinquish” his role due to the dire straits the bank finds itself in.