BB dissolves SIBL board

After Islami Bank and National Bank, Bangladesh Bank (BB) has dissolved the board of directors of the Social Islami Bank Limited (SIBL) in a move to restructure the reeling unconventional bank.
At the same time, the banking regulator also reconstituted the board with appointing Major (retd) Dr Md Rezaul Haque, the bank's founding shareholder, as the director of the new five-member board.
The four independent directors are: Maksuda Begum, a former executive director of the BB, Dr M Sadiqul Islam, a professor at the Department of Finance at Dhaka University, Md Morshed Alam Khandkar, a former deputy managing director of Rupali Bank, and Md Anwar Hossain, a chartered accountant.
Banking regulations and policy department (BRPD) of the central bank issued a letter on Sunday to the managing director of SIBL regarding the reconstruction of the bank's board.
With the latest dissolution, the banking regulator made two Shariah-based banks after Islami Bank free from the control of Chattogram-based controversial business conglomerate S Alam Group.
S Alam Group, which took control of SIBL along with some other Islamic banks since 2017, is alleged to have engaged in irregularities and unethical banking practices within SIBL, particularly in the areas of recruitment and loan disbursement.
Following the allegations, the Bangladesh Bank dissolved the existing board of directors, which was dominated by S Alam Group representatives, and appointed a new board to oversee the bank's operations.
Earlier on August 22, the central bank had dissolved the board of SAlam-controlled Islami Bank PLC and reconstituted it with appointing former managing director of Rupali Bank PLC Md Obayed Ullah Al Masud as the chairman of the new board.
After taking charge of the central bank following changeover in state power, the new governor, Dr Ahsan H Mansur, started the financial sector reforms recipe with dissolving the board of the country's first generation National Bank on August 20, 2024.

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