Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said that Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited recently made massive changes in its top brass due to pressure by the Middle East-based shareholders of the bank.
Terming the change a “good sign” for the banking sector, the minister Sunday said that the government was observing the situation.
“There was a question over the use of the bank’s profits which used to be spent for a political party.
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“I was notified by the IDB president that a Middle-Eastern financial institute, which is a shareholder and original partner of Islami Bank, used to handle this transaction,” Muhith said.
He made the remarks while talking to reporters after a meeting with the leaders of Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI).
A team led-by MCCI President Nihad Kabir met the finance minister at Secretariat.
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On Thursday, Islamic Bank’s board of directors elected Arastoo Khan, a former member of the Planning Commission, as chairman of the bank.
The controversial bank, which was fined several times for money laundering and terror financing, also appointed Abdul Hamid Miah, incumbent managing director of Union Bank, the new MD.
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On the other hand, former health secretary Syed Monjurul Islam and Islamic Foundation Bangladesh Director General Shamim Mohammad Afzal were elected new chairman and vice-chairman of Islami Bank Foundation.
Last year, four new independent directors were inducted in the bank’s board in accordance with orders from the government’s high-ups.
IBBL is the largest Shariah-based bank in Bangladesh. Since its inception its board has been populated with people associated with the Islamist political party Jamaat-e-Islami.
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Policymakers such as chairman and vice-chairman would be appointed from among party members or sympathisers. Executives and lower level employees are also from that political spectrum. Therefore the bank was heavily influenced by the party’s ideology.
The bank has therefore not been on good terms with the government. The finance minister and many policymakers have been known to issue statements against IBBL.
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Meanwhile, the bank has always hit the headlines by sponsoring government-managed national and sports events while the war crimes trial campaigners demand that Jamaat and all its financial and other organisations be banned and nationalised.
A founding vice-chairman of Islami Bank and top Jamaat leader, Mir Quasem Ali was hanged in September last year in a war crimes case. He led the notorious al-Badr force in Chittagong during the 1971 Liberation War to assist the Pakistani occupation forces.
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Thursday, June 04, 2026
