Agrani Bank has been in the forefront for last five years in supporting the most important areas like Power & Energy, Infrastructure, Exports, Remittances and the landmark deposit threshold achived in Bangladesh’s 50th anniversary. The Bank has been playing a very key role in countriy’s constant GDP growth over the years.
ABL is projected to earn Tk 20 billion by the end of this year as the state-run bank has been maintaining a strict credit monitoring policy to reduce non-performing loans.
Managing Director and CEO Mohammad Shams-Ul Islam said, Agrani Bank has kept the ratio of its non-performing loan below 13 percent over the last five years.
“In last five consecutive years, our gross NPL rate has been below 3 percent. With the legacy of earlier times, the gross rate is around 15 percent now. We have strengthened monitoring on credit and welcoming good clients,” he said.
In the last five years, Agrani Bank entered the prestigious club of Tk 1 trillion deposit with growth momentum in revenue by supporting public-private projects as a skilled arranger of syndication loans for mega projects and industries.
Only two other banks are in the one trillion club– Sonali Bank and Islami Bank.
Many leading conglomerates – Bashundhara Group, City Group, Bengal Group, Mohammadi Group are now receiving services from Agrani Bank which was not possible before the tenure of Shams-Ul Islam. The government had appointed Shams-Ul Islam, former managing director of Ansar VDP Bank, as the managing director of Agrani Bank. The inventor of `Bangabandhu Corner’, Shams-Ul Islam took the challenge to save the state-run bank from a crisis and succussed. Shamsul believes that the state-run banks are the centre of moral banking for a practitioner as there are a lot of scopes to do something for the people and the country.
“At state-run banks, we are not profit-oriented. We try to do something for the country’s economy and the well-being of people. For example, when all the private banks stopped opening letters of credit for importers amid the dollar crisis, Agrani Bank stood by Petro Bangla and Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation to facilitate oil imports. Similarly, we participated in the stipend disbursement initiatives including the Prime Minister’s scholarship programme without charging any charge considering the welfare of the country,” he said.
Agrani Bank has shown excellence as an arranger of syndicated loans and facilitated the financing of 15 power plants that added 2,356 MW of electricity to the national grid. Shams-Ul Islam is considered the pioneer in establishing Bangabandhu Corner, an initiative to spread the legacy of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. “I started Bangabandhu Corner at Ansar VDP Bank and that continued at Agrani Bank also. Surprisingly, the initiative has been replicated by educational institutions at home and abroad. It’s a matter of pride for us,” he said. Under the leadership of Shams-Ul Islam, Agrani Bank provided Tk 1.46 billion for the Padma Bridge project and invested in Mayor Hanif Flyover, the first project under the public-private partnership model.
The state-run bank has attracted the private sector with real-time banking from 962 branches across the country and smart banking mobile app.
Under Shams-Ul Islam’s leadership, Agrani Bank has been playing a significant role in financing power and energy sector. The bank has been supporting country’s highest oil & LNG imports, remaind open in all market conditions. The bank has sanctioned a total of Tk.3649.46 crore in 15 Projects. All these projects are generating more or less 2355.60 MW electricity per day, all of which are duly linked with the national grid of the country and more than 1334.60 MW electricity will be in supply per day to national grid from another 4 project. Bangladesh has made an epoch-making story of "Padma Bridge", whose unquestioned architect and dreamer is Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Agrani Bank is the proud sole provider of foreign currency to the construction of Padma Bridge. ABL has provided 1.46 billion US dollars till now.