Islami Bank recasts itself to stay on as leader

Islami Bank has put itself in good stead for future after it restructured its board with a dozen of new faces with experience and credibility to deal with employees and investors.

Of the 12 new faces in the 19-member board, eight are independent directors and four shareholder directors.

The set of new directors has already been able to create vibrancy among the bank's 13,500 employees.

For instance, the newly-composed board has hiked the salaries of all employees by 20 percent from July 1.

Though Islami Bank is the largest private bank, it was not among the 20 best employers in terms of salary in the sector. But with the latest hike, it has leapfrogged to the top 10 best rankings.

"We are very happy with the latest pay raise, which has happened after 4 years," said a senior official posted at Islami Bank's headquarters.

The newly-composed but highly capable board has changed many of the wrongly pre-conceived notions about the bank, according to its employees.

"We feared that employees will be retrenched, but that apprehension is no more," said another official.

The bank's deposit and loan disbursement growth have also seen phenomenal growth in recent years.

In July this year, Islami Bank's deposits stood at Tk 66,000 crore, which is 8 percent of the total deposits in the country's banking system. In 2010, its deposits were Tk 29,000 crore.

The number of depositors soared to 1.15 crore in July this year from 50 lakh in 2010.

The bank has provided Tk 180,000 crore to set up different factories in the last 15 years.

It accounts for 21 percent of the financing to the country's garment and textile sector and 25 percent to the spinning sector.

The bank invested Tk 2,320 crore to different steel mills.

It also handled about 30 percent of the country's total inflow of remittances in fiscal 2015-16.

"The bank has got some outstanding bankers as independent directors in the board. They have the capacity to run it professionally," said a director of Islami Bank.

On the apprehension of retrenchment of employees, another director said the new board has decided not to oust any employee unlawfully.

"Rather, we have decided to recruit new people as per the requirement of the bank," he said wishing not to be named.

A big change came last year, after four independent directors -- AKM Sadrul Islam, Md Belayet Hossain, Humayun Bokhteyar and Md Abdus Salam -- ended their term with the bank.

A fifth independent director, NRM Borhan Uddin, resigned on allegations of irregularities detected by the central bank.

Then, the new board led by Mustafa Anwar started recruiting fresh faces who are professionals with vast experience in the financial and other sectors.

As of June, the board has been able to recruit new eight independent directors, including M Azizul Huq, considered as a pioneer of Islamic banking in Bangladesh.

In fact, he was the first executive president of Islami Bank and the first chief executive officer of Social Islami Bank.

Huq has been made the vice-chairman of Islami Bank this year.

Syed Ahsanul Alam, who has vast professional experience in business, banking and investment, insurance and public enterprises, has been made the chairman of the bank's executive committee.

Helal Ahmed Chowdhury, a career banker who was the managing director of Pubali Bank, the largest private bank in terms of branch network, for nine years, has been made an independent director and chairman of the audit committee.

Humayun Kabir, a former president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Bangladesh, and Zillur Rahman, a former deputy managing director of Janata and Rupali banks, are the other new entrants to the Islami Bank board.

The three other independent directors who have been included in the board from other fields are much respected in their professions.

They are: Abdul Mabud, a former additional inspector general of police; Shamim Mohammad Afzal, director general of Islamic Foundation; and Borhan Uddin Ahmed, a former district and sessions judge.

In addition, four shareholder directors came into the board this year as representatives of different companies.

They are: Maj Gen (Retd) Abdul Matin; Qazi Shahidul Alam, a professor in orthopaedic surgery; Syful Islam, a former president of Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh; and Joynal Abedin, deputy managing director of Bangladesh Krishi Bank and Rupali Bank.