Best financial institution of the year: Brac Bank

Brac Bank founded in 2001 provides unbanked small and medium enterprises with access to banking, which in turn contributed significantly in revitalising the economy and generating employment.

Now, the bank's diverse range of clients includes SMEs, corporate and retail clients, offering them services such as treasury remittance, and agent banking.

The first and only bank to achieve the milestone of $1 billion in market capitalisation in Bangladesh, it also reduced its rate of default loans to below 4 percent. The bank paid the highest tax of Tk 1,024.7 crore in 2022. 

Brac Bank's Managing Director Selim RF Hussain attributed the bank's success with inherited value from its parent organisation Brac, is the world's largest non-governmental organisation and a pioneering development organisation.

Brac Bank has operations across all segments and territory of the Bangladeshi financial system, boasting a large number of branches, sub-branches with services like ATM, CRM, SME unit offices, agent banking outlets to name a few. 

Brac Bank puts emphasis on four objectives of digital transformation and first is to enhance customer services, secondly, increase revenues and the number of customers, thirdly, reduce the operational cost and fourthly, make its system too transparent and auditable.

Brac Bank is constantly innovating its product lineup such as 'Astha' super app, digital lending app 'Shubidha', 'CORPnet' online banking service for corporate clients, conversion of all EMV chip-based cards to contactless cards, which allow just simply holding or tapping for payment. 

The bank is the first to launch 'TARA', its comprehensive women's banking service.

Brac Bank has the highest foreign investment in stock among listed companies, establishing itself as a market leader in SME financing and retail banking.

The bank also takes pride in the achievement of getting the highest credit rating by Moody's Investor Services (currently B1) among all banks in Bangladesh.