Agrani Bank
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Agrani Bank PLC. () is a state-owned
commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make a profit. It can also refer to a bank or a division of a larger bank that deals with whol ...
of
Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...
established in 1972. Its headquarters is situated at
Motijheel Motijheel () is a central business district and a thana of Dhaka, Bangladesh. It is Dhaka's primary central business district, and also the nation's largest commercial and financial hub. Motijheel, located immediately adjacent to Dhaka's zero ...
in
Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...
, the capital city of Bangladesh. Md. Anwarul Islam is the CEO of Agrani Bank.


History

Agrani Bank Limited was established on 26 March 1972 by combining two abandoned Pakistani banks, Commerce Bank and Habib Bank. The bank is fully owned by the Government of Bangladesh. M. Fazlur Rahman was the first managing director of the bank. Agrani Bank is governed by a board of directors consisting of 12 members headed by a chairman. In 1995, Agrani Bank installed the first
Automated teller machine An automated teller machine (ATM) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, funds transfers, balance inquiries or account ...
in Bangladesh at the
Jatiya Press Club Jatiya Press Club () is the professional club for journalists of Bangladesh located in Segunbaghicha, Dhaka. History The Jatiya Press Club was founded in 1954 as the East Pakistan Press Club. It was formed to be run by an elected committee gui ...
. In 2006,
Purbo Banglar Communist Party The Purbo Banglar Communist Party (, abbreviated: PBCP) is an outlawed communist party and militant far-left organization in Bangladesh. The PBCP formed in 1968 following a split in the Bangladesh Communist Party. It is mainly active in the are ...
, demanded toll from six branches of Agrani Bank. In 2007, Agrani Bank, led by chairperson
Siddiqur Rahman Choudhury Siddiqur Rahman Choudhury is a former finance secretary of the government of Bangladesh and former chairperson of the Social Marketing Company. He is the former chairman of Agrani Bank, Sadharan Bima Corporation, and Sonali Bank, UK Ltd. He is ...
, along with two other state owned banks, Sonali Bank Limited and Janata Bank Limited, were made into public limited companies. , the bank has 11 Circle offices, 34 Divisions in head office, 62 zonal offices and 941 branches including 27 corporate and 40 AD (authorized dealer) branches. Agrani Bank also has remittance houses in
Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
,
Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
and
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. It has been corporatized on 15 November 2007 and emerged as Agrani Bank Limited (ABL) taking over assets, liability and goodwill of Agrani Bank. The authorized capital of the bank was Tk 8 billion. It is also the owner of the Agrani Bank Ltd football club and
Agrani Bank Cricket Club Agrani Bank Cricket Club is a cricket team in Bangladesh. They were one of the twelve teams that took part in the 2017–18 Dhaka Premier Division Cricket League tournament. They were relegated after one season, but have since returned to the le ...
.
Khandaker Bazlul Haque Khondoker Bazlul Hoque is a professor of International Business at the University of Dhaka. He is the chairman of the governing body of Tejgaon College. He is the president of Bangladesh Paribesh Andolan. He is the vice-chairman of Innovation, Cre ...
, president of
Dhaka University Teachers' Association Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...
, was appointed chairman of Agrani Bank in September 2009. Syed Abdul Hamid was appointed managing director of Agrani Bank in July 2010. An audit in 2013 by
Office of Comptroller and Auditor General The Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of Bangladesh (CAG) () is the supreme audit institution of the country. Like the SAIs in many other countries across the world, the institution is established by the Constitution of Bangladesh. Th ...
found that Agrani Bank had 28.85 billion taka in loses due to improper lending. In November 2014,
Zaid Bakht Zaid Bakht is a Bangladesh economist, researcher, and former chairperson of Agrani Bank Limited, the second largest nationalized bank in Bangladesh. He worked as a research at Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies. Early life Bakht was bo ...
, research director of
Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies The Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) () is an autonomous multi-disciplinary public research organization that conducts policy research on development issues for Bangladesh. Supported by the Government of Bangladesh, BIDS funct ...
, was appointed chairman of Agrani Bank. In 2015, Agrani Bank re-appointed Syed Abdul Hamid managing director; a post he held since 2014. Agrani Bank branch in Jessore District was robbed of 2.1 million armed robbers. In June 2016, Syed Abdul Hamid, the managing director of Agrani Bank was removed by Bangladesh Bank for providing 7.92 billion taka worth of loans against rules. Deputy Managing Director Mizanur Rahman Khan was arrested by Anti Corruption Commission of Bangladesh. Khan was arrested hours after the Ministry of Finance appointed him acting managing director of the bank along with two other officials. Following these removals, Mohammad Shams-Ul Islam was appointed the new managing director in August 2016. Upon his appointment, Islam immediately set in place a 100 Day Roadmap to recalibrate bank objectives, emphasizing growth and innovation in product offerings. By December 2016, the bank reported a 300% growth in operating profit, to Tk. 5.5 billion. The parliamentary standing committee on Estimate formed an investigation committee led by Yusuf Abdullah Harun to look into the loans following a report by Bangladesh Bank which found widespread irregularities at the bank. The other two members of the investigation committee were
Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh Sheikh Fazle Noor Taposh (born 19 November 1971) is a Bangladeshi politician and former mayor of South Dhaka. Previously, he served as a member of the Bangladesh Parliament for Dhaka-10 and Dhaka-12 from the Bangladesh Awami League. He is a gra ...
and
Waseqa Ayesha Khan Waseqa Ayesha Khan (born 16 July 1969) is a Bangladesh Awami League politician and a former Minister of State for Finance. She is a former member of parliament of Reserved women's seats. Early life Khan was born on 16 July 1969. She did her ...
. Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission approved Agrani Banks request to form a billion taka mutual fund. Anti Corruption Commission of Bangladesh filled charges against Mizanur Rahman Shaheen and his brother, Mujibur Rahman Milon, for embezzling more than 1.4 billion taka from the bank in March 2018. They are believed to have fled Bangladesh for Canada and Singapore. Former manager of the bank, Nibaran Chandra Tanchangya, was arrested for embezzling money from the
Bandarban District Bandarban District (), officially Bandarban Hill District, is a district in South-Eastern Bangladesh, and a part of the Chittagong Division. It is one of the three hill districts of Bangladesh and a part of the Chittagong Hill Tracts, the others ...
branch. It has a branch in Canada which is loss making concern for the bank. In December 2020, Zaid Bakht was re-appointed chairman of Agrani Bank for a third time in a row. In November 2021, Agrani Bank was identified as a weak bank due to 24.63 billion taka shortfall. Haji Selim, member of parliament from Awami League, had grabbed land belonging to Agrani Bank in Moulvibazar,
Old Dhaka Old Dhaka () is a term used to refer to the historic old city of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It was founded in 1608 as Jahangirabad or Jahangirnagar (), the capital of Bengal Subah, Mughal Province of Bengal and named after the Mughal em ...
which he had claimed since 2003. The bank was able to recover the land in 2020 but the building was demolished by Haji Selim. Bangladesh Bank had discovered an irregular loan by Agrani Bank for 350 million taka to Stylecraft Limited. Bangladesh Bank also fined Agrani Bank for proving loan to a known defaulter, Swiss Quality Paper, subsidiary of the Tanaka Group, with "undue privilege". Agrani Bank was the lone supplier of foreign exchange to the
Padma Bridge The Padma Multipurpose Bridge, commonly known as the Padma Bridge, is a Double-decked bridge, two-level road-rail bridge across the Padma River, the main distributary of the Ganges in Bangladesh. It connects Louhajang Upazila of Munshiganj Dist ...
construction project and had paid more than 1.2 billion USD to suppliers and contractors. Anti-Corruption Commission began an investigation against the managing director of the bank, Mohammad Shams-Ul Islam, in February 2022. In August 2022, Md Murshedul Kabir, was appointed Managing Director of Agrani Bank replacing Mohammad Shams-Ul Islam.
SWIFT Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIF ...
asked Agrani Bank to suspend all transaction with Russia following the
Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
. Bangladesh Bank fined Agrani bank for failure to recover loan from Dolly Construction Limited.


Board of directors


See also

*
List of banks Lists of banks are contained in the following articles: By continent * List of banks in Africa – Each country in Africa has a list of banks operating in that country * List of banks in Asia – Each country in Asia has a list of banks oper ...
*
List of banks in Bangladesh The bank sector in Bangladesh consists of several types of institutions. Bangladesh Bank is the central bank of Bangladesh and the chief regulatory authority in the banking sector. According to the Bangladesh Bank Order, 1972 the Government of Ban ...


References


External links


Official website

Agrani Bank
Banglapedia ''Banglapedia:'' ''the'' ''National Encyclopedia of Bangladesh'' is the first Bangladeshi encyclopedia. It is available in print, CD-ROM format and online, in both Bengali and English. The print version comprises fourteen 500-page volumes. The ...
{{Banks in Bangladesh Banks established in 1972 Banks of Bangladesh Organisations based in Motijheel Government-owned banks of Bangladesh Banks of Bangladesh with Islamic banking services Bangladeshi companies established in 1972