NRBC Bank sees deposits quadruple in 6 years

Deposits at NRBC Bank, a fourth-generation lender in the country, have quadrupled to Tk17,613 crore in six years.

According to NRBC Bank's annual report for 2023, the deposits stood at Tk4,523 crore at the end of 2017. The figure grew to Tk17,613 crore by the end of 2023, reflecting an increase of Tk13,090 crore.

In the past six years, the bank's loan distribution has increased more than three times, in line with the growth in deposits. At the end of 2017, the bank's loan portfolio stood at Tk4,300 crore, which increased to Tk14,508 crore by the end of 2023.

NRBC Bank was established on 2 April 2013 on the initiative of 53 expatriate entrepreneurs. In December 2017, Parvez Tamal was elected chairman of the bank's board of directors.

After the takeover as chairman by Parvez Tamal, all kinds of indicators of the bank, which was struggling due to corruption, started to improve. NRBC Bank officials believe that the bank has performed well over the last six years to reach the top compared to its contemporary banks.

The bank is also ahead in terms of profit generation among the new-generation banks.

The latest year's operating profit and net profit stood at Tk403 and Tk173 crore, respectively. The figures reflected a significant improvement from Tk184 in operating profit and Tk92 crore in net profit in 2017.

NRBC Bank has not only achieved success in terms of loans and deposits, but the bank's number of new employees has also increased several times. The number of employees of the bank has increased six times from 617 in 2017 to 3,832 at the end of 2023.

While the bank had only 61 branches in 2017, the number of branches and sub-branches reached around 800 at the end of 2023.

NRBC Bank Managing Director Golam Awlia told TBS, "NRBC Bank is far ahead of all contemporary banks. We want to go even further. We want to increase deposit collection and loan disbursement by increasing service activities among people. We want to present remittance and other services for expatriates more conveniently."

He further said, "We are ensuring transparency, accountability and good governance at all levels of our service activities for sustainable progress."

Regarding its overall indicators, NRBC Bank Chairman Parvez Tamal told TBS, "Every year, we share a common goal: fostering the creation of new entrepreneurs. To achieve this, our successful microcredit distribution programme will continue this year as well."

He went on to say, "Our core objective is job creation, and we will leverage existing deposits to expand loan availability in rural areas while also focusing on improving recovery rates from larger clients."

NRBC Bank has reached the top over the last six years compared to contemporary banks, Tamal said. "The bank has made the highest profit among the new-generation banks. In some cases, it is also far ahead of the older-generation banks. As a new bank, we are providing services to over one crore customers."

The NRBC Bank chairman wants to expand banking services across the country by increasing loan distribution in remote areas. "We are doing very well in the northern region in particular; we want to spread this work across the country this year."

Mentioning job creation as one of the bank's targets, Tamal said, "Our slogan is to create employment for one lakh people, and the successful implementation of this is the main objective of the bank this year."

Another goal of the bank is to ensure that microcredit can be disbursed in a very short time and in a fully digital manner, the NRBC Bank chairman said.

He said the maximum loan disbursement limit at the bank online will be Tk20,000.

"We will also go for nano loans alongside micro loans, through which we will be able to provide services to many more people. We will also focus on recovering bad loans," said Tamal.