BB rejects NBL plea to appoint Syed Ahmed as director

The Bangladesh Bank rejected an application of the National Bank, seeking to appoint Syed Ahmed Raza as its director, due to the violation of Bank Company Act.

The central bank informed its decision in a letter sent to the managing director of National Bank on October 2 in this regard.

Syed Ahmed is a representative from Sikder Insurance Company, but the private bank has already a representative from the insurance company, as per the officials of the central bank.

Shafiqur Rahman is the representative director of Sikder Insurance Company, a corporate shareholder of National Bank.

The central bank officials said that appointing more than one representative director from a same company is a violation of the Section-86 of the Bank Company Act-1994 that is why the BB rejected the application.

Syed Ahmed Raza is the son of eminent lawyer Abdul Baset Majumdar, former president of Supreme Court Bar Council.

Abdul Baset Majumdar, also a member of Bangladesh Awami League advisory council, died in last year.

Contacted, National Bank Managing Director Mehmood Husain told The Business Post, “We received the central bank’s letter rejecting our application.”

In August this year, Moazzam Hossain and his son Mabroor Hossain, two directors of NBL lost their directorship from the bank after failing to be re-elected at the bank’s 39th AGM.

Howerver, Ron Haque Sikder was re-elected as the bank’s director in the AGM.

Both Moazzam Hossain and Mabroor Hossain were directors of the Hosaf Group. Moazzam is the founder of the Hosaf Group and also the former chairman of the National Bank.

The non-election of Moazzam Hossain and Mabroor Hossain reduced the dominance of directors from outside the Sikder family in the bank.

After the death of National Bank Chairman Zainul Haque Sikder, his wife Monowara Sikder became the next chairman. Their daughter Parveen Haque Sikder and two sons Rick Haque Sikder and Ron Haque Sikder are also on the board of directors.

The bank is now facing several crises due to credit card irregularities and high non-performing loans. Bangladesh Bank has recently signed an agreement to improve the financial condition of the bank.

At the end of June, the amount of defaulted loans of National Bank stood at Tk 9,394.29 crore, which is 23.24 per cent of the total disbursed loans.