Bangladesh Bank has dissolved the board of directors of National Bank Ltd, just five months after restructuring it.

The central bank issued an order in this regard to the board and formed a new one yesterday.

Bangladesh Bank dissolved the board to protect the interests of depositors and banks and to ensure good governance, reads the order.

NBL chairman Syed Ferhat Anwar, a former teacher at the Institute of Business Administration of Dhaka University, whom the Bangladesh Bank appointed in December; director Parveen Haque Sikder, a director of the Sikder group; independent directors Md Serajul Islam, former executive director of Bangladesh Bank, and M Kamal Hossain, former managing director of Southeast Bank, were among those removed yesterday.

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Bangladesh Bank again dissolves National Bank board

Bangladesh Bank made National Bank's sponsor director Khalilur Rahman the board's new chairman and kept two directors of the dissolved board in the new board.

Reazul Karim, former managing director of Premier Bank; businessperson Arshad Mahmud; Ahsanul Karim, senior lawyer at the Supreme Court; and Prof AKM Tafazzal Haque of Chittagong University, were nominated directors.

The central bank also appointed three independent directors – Prof Md Helal Uddin Nizami, of Chittagong University; chartered accountant Ratna Dutta; and Bangladesh Bank former executive director ABM Zahurul Huda.

A former independent director of National Bank, seeking anonymity, told The Daily Star that all independent directors of the previous board had resigned on Thursday following a decision not to merge with other banks.

Bangladesh Bank officials during a meeting with the chairman of United Commercial Bank (UCB) on April 9 decided to merge UCB with National Bank.

The central bank officials said National Bank directors split over the merger issue.

The NBL incurred losses of Tk 1,497 crore in 2023, down by around 54 percent from Tk 3,285 crore of the previous year, according to its financial statement.

The bank's bad loans stood at Tk 12,368 crore which was 28.92 percent of its total disbursed loans, shows BB data.

Bangladesh Bank on December 21 dissolved the board of NBL after receiving a recommendation from the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission.