Bar on Ron Haque to attend National Bank’s meetings

Bangladesh Bank has imposed a bar on National Bank Director Ron Haque Sikder to attend the bank's meetings, including board meetings, due to violation of central bank rules.

The banking watchdog informed National Bank Managing Director Md Mehmood Husain about the bar through a letter on July 26.

The bar was imposed as the first-generation bank did not take mandatory regulatory approval before re-electing Ron Haque as one of its directors.

On August 25 last year in the 39th annual general meeting held virtually, National Bank re-elected Ron Haque as a director and removed two incumbent directors—Moazzam Hossain and Mabroor Hossain—from their directorships.

But the bank skipped sending the necessary papers to the BB, submission of which were made mandatory by the central bank in 2021 for election, re-election, appointment or reappointment of a bank director.

Since then, the banking regulator has been repeatedly asking the bank to send documents of the AGM, but it is yet to take BB's permission for the re-election of Ron Haque Sikder, a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank said seeking anonymity.

However, National Bank has recently sought some time from the regulator to respond to the letter, the official said.

Some banks have the tendency to skip complying with BB's rules on appointment or re-appointment of directors, and National Bank is one of them, he added.

Despite repeated attempts, The Daily Star could not reach National Bank Managing Director Md Mehmood Husain over phone or through text message.

After the death of National Bank Chairman Zainul Haque Sikder, his wife Monowara Sikder became the new chairman.

Their daughter Parveen Haque Sikder and two sons Rick Haque Sikder and Ron Haque Sikder were on the bank's board before the demise of Zainul Haque.

The bank is now facing several crises along with highest ever losses and high non-performing loans (NPLs).

The bank suffered losses of over Tk 3,200 crore in 2022 due to huge loan irregularities.

At the end of March this year, the bank's NPLs stood at Tk 7,774 crore, which is 18.35 percent of its total disbursed loans, as per the BB data.

The Bangladesh Bank has recently signed an agreement with the bank to improve its financial health.