IBBL top lender among PCBs, FCBs in FY \\\'14

Badrul Ahsan
Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL) has disbursed the highest amount of money as soft loan among the private and foreign commercial banks in the just-concluded fiscal year (FY), 2013-14.
According to data available at Bangladesh Bank (BB), IBBL has disbursed some Tk 13.11 billion during the period which is 80 per cent more than its total target fixed by the central bank.
The amount is also around 20 per cent of the total loans disbursed by the country's 39 private commercial banks (PCBs) and nine foreign commercial banks (FCBs).
PCBs and FCBs have together disbursed a total of Tk 66.88 billion, of which the PCBs disbursed Tk 60.95 billion and the FCBs Tk 5.93 billion within the period, the BB data shows.
However, a top official at the IBBL said the bank always prioritises needy people while sanctioning loans which encouraged the bank to disburse higher amount of loans among the farmers and related traders.
"Islami banking always encourages using funds for reducing the gap between the rich and the poor rather than centralising resources to a selected group of people which enabled us to disburse the large amount of loans to the agricultural sector," Managing Director (MD) of IBBL Md Abdul Mannan told the FE.
"Most of the people of our country are still living under the poverty level and most of them are dependent on agriculture, so we always focus on the majority's necessity. Islami Bank always tries to emphasise need-based banking rather than greed-based banking," he added.
"Besides, the IBBL is not only disbursing loans to the farmers but also providing different types of trainings to its borrowers free of cost. The trainings include entrepreneurship skill development trainings, education for the elderly and health awareness programmes and many more," he said.
The IBBL MD also said the bank (IBBL) had so far disbursed around Tk 40 billion for poverty alleviation since 1995 in the banner of 'Rural Development Scheme (RDS)'.
Besides the low interest soft loans, the bank has been disbursing a significant amount of money every year at zero per cent interest to bring the farmers of the country under sanitation and to ensure pure drinking water for them.
Mr Mannan expressed the hope of increasing the amount of soft loans in the coming years and assured of continuing the same practice in future.
"IBBL's achievement will encourage the other PCBs and FCBs to contribute to the society in the same way in the coming days," a BB high official commented.
"The PCBs and FCBs could contribute more to the farmers, if they are devoted enough to help the under-privileged people," the BB official added.
Among the PCBs, BRAC Bank Ltd disbursed Tk 2.78 billion, AB Bank Ltd Tk 2.05 billion, National Bank Ltd Tk 1.86 billion, Pubali Bank Ltd Tk 2.25 billion, Eastern Bank Ltd Tk 1.65 billion, Jamuna Bank Ltd Tk 1.39 billion, One Bank Ltd Tk 1.05 billion and Uttara Bank Ltd Tk 1.11 billion.
Meanwhile, of the FCBs, Citi Bank NA disbursed Tk 0.52 billion, HSBC Tk 2.43 billion, Habib Bank Ltd Tk 5.03 million, Standard Chartered Bank Tk 2.32 billion and Bank Al-Falah Ltd Tk 01.0 million, Commercial Bank of Ceylon Tk 0.25 billion and State Bank of India Tk 0.10 billion. Two FCBs had no contribution to the agricultural sector.