Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday dissolved the boards of Union Bank, Global Islami Bank, and United Commercial Bank, replacing them with independent directors.
The central bank informed the managing directors of the banks of its decision to place the institutions under new boards.
Union Bank and Global Islami Bank were directly controlled by the controversial S Alam Group, while UCB was indirectly influenced by the group through family ties between S Alam chairman Saiful Alam and聽 former land minister Saifuzzaman Chowdhury, whose family controlled UCB until the restructuring.
This latest move follows the central bank鈥檚 actions on August 20 and August 25 to restructure the boards of Islami Bank Bangladesh and Social Islami Bank, which also were under S Alam Group鈥檚 control.
With these changes, Bangladesh Bank has now freed four banks from the grip of the S Alam Group.
The central bank appointed five independent directors to each of the newly restructured banks.
Md Farid Uddin Ahmed, former managing director of Islami Bank Bangladesh, has been named chairman of Union Bank鈥檚 new board alongside four other independent directors 鈥� former BB executive director Md Humayan Kabir, former RKUB deputy managing director Mohammad Saiful Alam, Dhaka University professor Shahidul Islam Zahid, and chartered accountant Sheikh Zahidul Islam.
For Global Islami Bank, former Meghna Bank managing director Mohammad Nurul Amin has been appointed chairman with four additional independent directors 鈥� former BB executive director Md Zaman Mollah, former Islami Bank deputy managing director Nurul Islam Khalifa, Dhaka University professor Abu Hena Reza Hasan, and chartered accountant Md Mahmud Hossain.
UCB鈥檚 new board will be chaired by shareholder Sharif Jahir, with another shareholder, Tanvir Khan, appointed as director. The three independent directors are former BB executive director Md Sazzad Hussain, former Agrani Bank deputy managing director Md Yusuf Ali, and chartered accountant Obaydur Rahman.
Until the development, majority board members of UCB were from the family member of Saifuzzaman who controlled the bank.
Massive irregularities and loan anomalies occurred in the three banks in recent years, BB officials said.
The S Alam Group, with support from the former Awami League-led government, took control of six banks since 2017, ousting several founding shareholders and directors in the process.
Apart from the four banks, the group also controlled First Security Islami Bank and Bangladesh Commerce Bank.
Since then, a large sum of money was allegedly siphoned from the bank through various anonymous companies.
S Alam Group has been accused of engaging in widespread irregularities within SIBL, particularly in recruitment and loan disbursement.
Bank officials claim that the group withdrew around Tk聽2 lakh crore in loans from the banking sector, mostly under anonymous names.
These loan irregularities have pushed these banks into a severe liquidity crisis, leaving its current account with Bangladesh Bank in the red and forcing it to rely on central bank bailouts.
Therefore, most of the irregularities by the S Alam Group occurred under the watch of Bangladesh Bank, with some of its senior officials鈥� involvement in the misconduct.
S Alam Group fell into trouble as Sheikh Hasina resigned as prime minister and fled to India on August 5 amid student uprising.
