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Mohammed Monirul Moula, managing director & CEO of IBBL.

He then said IBBL carries out its CSR activities beyond the regulatory threshold.

CSR programmes of IBBL aim at the welfare and well-being of all people on Earth, the planet itself and its stakeholders, he added.

DBBL spent Tk 69 crore and Exim Bank spent Tk 63 crore last year to become the second and third highest spenders for CSR respectively, as per central bank data.

On the other hand, four banks -- Bangladesh Krishi Bank, Rajshahi Krishi Unnyan Bank, Citizens Bank PLC and National Bank of Pakistan -- did not spend for CSR in 2022.

Of them, Bangladesh Krishi Bank, Rajshahi Krishi Unnyan Bank and Citizens Bank PLC did not make any profit the previous year, Bangladesh Bank said.

Chowdhury Liakat Ali, director of the sustainable finance department at Bangladesh Bank, said there is no specific directive from the central bank regarding the ratio of profit banks will have to spend for CSR.

However, banks have to share with the central bank the amount of their profit they will have to spend for CSR. In general, CSR spending accounts for 7 to 8 per cent of a bank’s profit, he added.

A senior official of Bank Asia, which spent nearly Tk 24 crore, said the private bank invested mainly in health and education last year under CSR initiatives.

“We have contributed to the Prime Minister’s Education Assistance Trust. Individually, we also have scholarship programmes for talented students,” he added.

In the current year, Bank Asia is focusing on agriculture and has already provided three combine harvesters to farmer groups in haor areas of Sylhet to enable them to harvest their crops faster and avoid the risk of crop loss for flash floods.