Finance Minister AMA Muhtih on Sunday placed in Parliament the much talked about ‘Grameen Bank Bill 2013’ seeking to abolish the military government promulgated ‘The Grameen Bank Ordinance 1983’ and make the law more time befitting.
The bill also seeks to bring the microcredit institution under the strong watch of the central bank.
The House sent the bill to the respective Parliamentary Standing Committee for further scrutiny and asked the committee to submit its report within seven days.
The Cabinet on October 3 approved the draft of the Grameen Bank Bill 2013.
The Bill stated that the headquarters of the Bank will be situated in Dhaka.
The authorised capital of Grameen Bank was TK 350 crore earlier. Now it will be increased to Tk 1000 crore and there will be 10 crore shares of this Bank.
The Bank’s paid-up capital is to be increased to Tk 300 crore from Tk 50
crore. The government shares of this paid up capital will be 25 percent and the government could increase its paid up capital from time to time.
The bank has to consult with the government before taking any policy decision.
The Board of the Bank will comprise 12 members. Of them, three will be given from the government while rest of the members will be elected from the shareholders.
The managing director of the Bank will be a director, but he will not have the voting right.
The tenure of the Board of Directors will be three years. Earlier, there was no specific tenure for the Grameen Bank’s board of directors
No member of the Board, except the managing director or CEO, will get the chance to be the Director of the bank for more than two consecutive terms.
The managing director will be chosen by a selection committee that will select a three-member panel. It would need prior approval from Bangladesh Bank to appoint one of them as managing director.
The managing director will be allowed to serve the Bank up to the age of 60 years.
As per the other banks, Grameen Bank will have to submit its annual report to the Bangladesh Bank.
Source: UNBConnect
