National Bank gets Mintoo as chairman

Trouble-ridden National Bank Ltd (NBL) yesterday elected Abdul Awal Mintoo, a businessman and vice-chairman of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, as chairman of its board of directors, a development that came two days after the Bangladesh Bank (BB) dissolved the previous board to protect the interests of depositors.
The latest occasion marked the third time since December 2023 that the oldest private bank in the country had to form a new board.
The new board features three directors and four independent directors.
In a statement, the NBL said Moazzam Hossain, another sponsor director of the bank, was unanimously elected as vice-chairman of the board.
The dissolution of the previous board on August 20 caused the S Alam Group and its associates, who were allegedly the beneficiaries of the recently ousted Awami League government, to lose control of the private bank.
Associates of the S Alam Group came to the board in May this year after Parveen Haque Sikder lost her directorship, loosening the Sikder family’s grip on the bank.
The NBL has been suffering from losses for the last two years thanks to a high amount of default loans.
The lender incurred losses of Tk 1,497 crore in 2023, down 54 percent from Tk 3,285 crore in the previous year. In the first quarter of 2024, losses increased 145 percent year-on-year to Tk 766 crore.
In a statement, the NBL said Mintoo is a prominent industrialist and business leader in Bangladesh.
He is a former president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI).
Additionally, he serves as the chairman of several companies, including Lal Teer Seed Ltd, North South Seed Ltd, and Pragati Life Insurance Ltd.
On the other hand, Hossain is the founder of the Hosaf Group of Companies. He was a former chairman of the NBL.