& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

State banks get poor scores in first-half review

Rejaul Karim Byron
Four state-owned commercial banks had mixed success in meeting many of the performance targets given by Bangladesh Bank, which brought out calls for prompt improvement in the institutions.
The disclosure came after the central bank yesterday reviewed the half-yearly performance of Sonali, Janata, Agrani and Rupali. The review was conducted by BB Governor Atiur Rahman and other high officials in the presence of the chief executive officers of the four banks.
Between January and June, the four banks reached about 34 percent of the year's recovery target ofTk 623 crore from
the top 20 defaulters. At the individual level, Sonali managed 23 percent, Janata 17 percent, Rupali 36 percent and Agrani 69 percent.
In terms of cash recovery, they managed only 30 percent of 2014's target ofTk 3,428 crore in the first-half. Sonali Bank achieved 20 percent of its target, Janata 62 percent, Agrani 21 percent and Rupali 62 percent.
Subsequently, the central bank stressed speeding up recovery.
The banks were also given a target this year of lowering defaults by 20 percent from the figure recorded on December 31, 2013.
In reality, save for Rupali Bank, all the banks saw their default loans aeep up. Sonali's rose 1.32 percent Janata's 11.05 percent and Agrani's 8.82 percent.
Their loan growth remained within limits set by the central bank. The loan growth ceilings for Sonali, Janata, Agrani and Rupali this year are: 6, 10, 10 and 12 percent respectively.
But in the first six months, Sonali's loan portfolio grew 0.53 percent, Janata's 3.83 percent, Agrani's 0.98 percent and Rupali's 5.63 percent.
Though the banks' loans did not aoss
the ceiling, the quality of the fresh loans was very poor, BB said at the meeting. Furthermore, the central bank also detected many irregularities and cautioned the banks about them.
The banks were also given a target of cutting the number of loss-making branches and they floundered in that regard as well. At present, Sonali has 65 loss-making branches, Janata 93, Agrani 75 and Rupali 28.
In the meeting, the central bank also expressed serious dissatisfaction over the slow progress in automation of the banks and risk management.