SIBL's ex-chairman declares to buy bank's 18 lakh shares
Earlier in August, Bangladesh Bank dissolved the bank’s board of directors and formed a new board
Sultan Mahmood Chowdhury, sponsor and former chairman of Social Islami Bank Limited (SIBL), declared to buy the bank's 18 lakh shares at the prevailing market price through the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE).
According to his announcement through the DSE, Sultan Mahmood will buy the bank's shares within the next 30 days.
SIBL shares closed at Tk9.80 on Sunday, which was 4.85% lower than the previous session at the DSE.
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As per the SIBL's shareholding report, at the end of July, Sultan Mahmood held 1.91 crore shares of the bank, representing 1.68% of the total shares.
Earlier in August, the Bangladesh Bank dissolved the board of directors of the SIBL and formed a new five-member board. Sultan Mahmood was the chairman of the bank in 2010.
The new board has one director — Major (retd) Dr Md Rezaul Haque, the bank's founding shareholder, and four independent directors — Maksuda Begum, a former executive director of the central bank; M Sadiqul Islam, a professor at the Department of Finance of Dhaka University; Md Morshed Alam Khandkar, a former deputy managing director of Rupali Bank; and Md Anwar Hossain, a chartered accountant.
Later, the new board elected Sadiqul Islam as chairman of the bank.
Since 2017, SIBL had been controlled by the S Alam Group, a business conglomerate with a history of alleged irregularities and corruption.
S Alam Group is alleged to have engaged in irregularities and corrupt practices within SIBL, particularly in the areas of recruitment and loan disbursement. Following the allegations, the central bank dissolved the SIBL's board.
According to a confidential Bangladesh Bank report, SIBL concealed Tk7,936 crore in defaulted loans with the help of a central bank official.
As per the inspection report, By the end of December 2023, defaulted loans totaled Tk9,568 crore, but SIBL reported only Tk1,644 crore to the money market regulator.
The Bangladesh Bank initially concealed the true financial condition of SIBL. Later, the central bank reported that the bank's total provisioning requirement was Tk1,370 crore, of which Tk1,306 crore had been covered, leaving a shortfall of Tk64 crore.
Its consolidated earnings per share stood at Tk0.53 at the end of the first half of this year. For the year 2023, the company paid a 5% cash dividend and a 5% stock dividend, with a consolidated net profit of Tk212 crore.
