Social Islami Bank keen to spend over crores amid crisis.
Despite not being able to properly return customer deposits, Sharia-based Social Islami Bank (SIBL) wants to spend over crores of taka to hold a large business conference outside Dhaka. The bank’s board of directors recently approved a proposal in this regard. However, the central bank has rejected the proposal to organize such a conference amid the financial crisis. Instead, it has been suggested to organize the conference on a limited scale in Dhaka within the bank’s own infrastructure. Bangladesh Bank has mainly suggested this to reduce the bank’s costs. This information has been learned from relevant sources.
SIBL is one of the banks that were looted extensively during the Awami League government. Thousands of crores of taka were taken out in the name of loans when it was under the control of the controversial S Alam Group. As a result, the bank has been suffering from a liquidity crisis for a long time. In addition to returning money to depositors, it has to regularly borrow from the central bank as well as the interbank money market to run its daily operations.
SIBL decided to organize its 2025 annual business conference at the most luxurious five-star hotel (Baywatch) in the tourist city of Cox’s Bazar. The proposal was passed at the bank’s board meeting on December 12, where the cost of organizing the conference on January 17 and 18 was estimated at Tk 1.1 crore. The cost was estimated for 270 people, including VAT. The cost, including VAT, would be higher. However, after sending the memorandum of the meeting to Bangladesh Bank for approval, it was rejected. Instead, the central bank wrote to the bank last week suggesting organizing it in its own training institute or conference room in Dhaka on a limited scale.
A Bangladesh Bank official, who did not want to be named, told Our Time that the proposal to organize the conference outside Dhaka was rejected due to the relatively high cost. Instead, it was suggested to organize it in its own infrastructure in Dhaka. Responding to a question, he said, “There is no reason to go outside Dhaka and organize a grand business conference in a picnic style at this time. It was not reasonable for the board to pass such a proposal. Such events can be held on a limited scale on Zoom.”
When the board passed the proposal, Mohammad Forkanullah was the acting MD of the bank. When asked about this, he told our time, “The decision to hold the conference outside Dhaka has already been postponed. I don’t know anything more than that.” When asked about the proposal to spend so much money outside Dhaka amid the crisis, he said, “It was a collective decision by everyone.”
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