The Islami Bank Customer Forum has staged a human chain demanding the cancellation of what they described as illegal recruitment and monopolization by the S Alam Group in Islami Bank and across the country’s banking sector.
The demonstration took place on Sunday, in front of the Islami Bank Tower in Dilkusha, Dhaka.
Speakers at the event called for the cancellation of illegal recruitment under S Alam’s influence at Islami Bank’s Chittagong region between 2017 and 2024. They also urged the authorities to ensure fair recruitment of honest and competent candidates from across the country through merit-based selection.
Businessperson Shahin Ahmed Khan, Md Motasim Billah, Md Delwar Hossain, Md Imam Hossain, Advocate Waliullah, Hafizur Rahman, and DM Shawkat Ali addressed the gathering.
At the same time, the Conscious Professionals Group, Islami Bank CBA, and the Conscious Bankers’ Society also held separate human chains and protest programs, voicing similar demands.
Speakers alleged that since S Alam took control of Islami Bank, 7,224 individuals from Chittagong alone had been recruited illegally between 2017 and August 2024. Of them, over 4,500 are from Patiya upazila. They said that prioritizing candidates from one district while excluding applicants from 63 others has severely disrupted the bank’s service quality and administrative discipline.
According to the speakers, many of the newly recruited officials behave rudely with clients, lack professionalism, and often communicate in regional dialects that make it difficult for customers to understand them. “A bank cannot function this way,” one of the speakers said.
They demanded that the bank immediately cancel all such illegal recruitments and ensure a nationwide, merit-based recruitment process.
Meanwhile, to verify the qualifications of those allegedly recruited unlawfully, Islami Bank organized an assessment test on September 27 through the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) of the University of Dhaka.
Of the 5,385 officers summoned for the test, only 414 took part. The remaining 4,971 who skipped the test were made officers on special duty (OSD), while 400 were dismissed from their positions. Until further notice, they have been instructed to refrain from all official duties.
Speakers warned that if the “bank looter” S Alam and his appointed incompetent officials are not removed, customers will gradually withdraw their trust and turn away from Islami Bank.