Mamdudur Rashid NCC Bank is going to introduce Islamic banking through setting up separate windows by the third quarter of this calendar year, the bank's top executive has said.
"We're now taking preparations to launch the Islamic banking business within the deadline," Mohammad Mamdudur Rashid, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National Credit and Commerce (NCC) Bank Limited, told the Financial Express (FE) in an exclusive interview recently ahead of the bank's 29th anniversary.
The second generation Private Commercial Bank (PCB) has already received a no-objection certificate (NoC) from the central bank in this connection, according to the top executive.
NCC Bank's latest moves came against the backdrop of rising trend in the Islamic banking business in Bangladesh recently.
Currently, 10 full-fledged Islamic banks have been operating with 1671 branches out of 10937 branches of the whole banking sector.
In addition, 41 Islamic banking branches of 9 conventional commercial banks and 368 Islamic banking windows of 13 conventional commercial banks are also providing Islamic financial services in Bangladesh.
NCC Bank is also planning to enhance its financing in Retail and Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) for minimising risk and diversifying portfolios by the next two years.
Under the new plans of the bank, the investment in Retail and SME will be reached at 35 per cent of its total loans and advances within 2023-24 from the existing level of 24 per cent.
"We're focusing on retail and SME financing aiming to bring more unbanked people in the banking network for ensuring sustainable growth of our businesses," Mr Rashid noted.
The senior banker took responsibility as new MD & CEO of NCC Bank on December 28, 2020.
NCC Bank is now working to become one of the country's top ranking banks within the next five years by increasing the number of customers through using latest technologies, according to the CEO.
"We want to be included in the list of top five banks of Bangladesh by 2026," he said while replying to a query.
"We've started works to provide services to our valued customers in a better way along with a cost effective manner," the CEO said while explaining the bank's future plans.
"Actually, the PCB is trying to attract new customers, particularly the younger generation, by offering innovative products and services."
As part of the initiatives, NCC Bank is going to invest more in information and communications technology (ICT) for boosting the automation process of the bank using the latest financial technology (FinTech), he added.
Besides, the conventional scheduled bank is updating its core banking solution (CBS) system, gradually aiming to process more transactions properly.
CBS system allows inter-connectivity between branches of the same bank and facilitates management of deposit, loan, and credit processing. The customers may operate their accounts as well as avail banking services from any branch of the bank with in the network.
"We want to expedite our digitization process to offer better services to the customers with lower cost," Mr Rashid noted.
Not only customers, the NCC Bank is also working for the betterment of its more than 2200 employees through amending rules and regulations.
"We're working to improve productivity by creating a congenial working environment with awarding and recognition for better performances of our employees," the CEO said while explaining the necessity of motivation for the employees.
NCC Bank is also working for stakeholders particularly shareholders by expediting business activities through improving its capital base.
"It's not possible to enhance business activities without improving the capital base," the top executive noted.
The "Capital to Risk-Weighted-Assets" ratio (CRAR) of NCC Bank raised to 15.86 per cent in 2021 from 13.22 per cent a year ago despite the falling trend of the capital base of the country's banking system.
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