National Bank postpones AGM after Supreme Court order

The National Bank Ltd has postponed its annual general meeting (AGM) for an indefinite period following a status quo order issued by the Supreme Court.

The AGM of the crisis-hit private bank was scheduled to be held on December 21.

The NBL, in a filing to the Dhaka Stock Exchange today, said the AGM has been postponed until further notice.

The chamber judge of the Supreme Court's Appellate Division yesterday issued the status quo order on the holding of the bank's AGM until January 21 next year, responding to an appeal against an order issued by the High Court.

Earlier, the High Court stayed the AGM following an application by a director of the bank. Later, the bank moved to the Appellate Division against the HC order.

The director demanded that the AGM be held in person, not digitally, according to the court sources.

The director also placed an application to the chairman of the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission on December 17 seeking its steps to stop holding the AGM virtually, bringing some allegations of regularities against the bank authorities in appointing directors.

The National Bank is one of the six banks whose bad loans increased by about 55 percent to Tk 27,931 crore in the first nine months of the year until September, according to data from the Bangladesh Bank. Five other banks are One Bank, AB Bank, Bangladesh Commerce Bank (BCB), Padma Bank and ICB Islamic Bank.

The cash-strapped National Bank's defaulted loans stood at Tk 13,514.6 crore between January and September.