Feb 05,2020
Settlement of loans amounting to Tk 28,706 crore of state-owned Sonali Bank has remained pending with different courts including Artho Rin Adalat (money loan court).
The bank filed 18,903 lawsuits against defaulters as part of its move to recover loans, Sonali Bank managing director and chief executive officer Md Ataur Rahman Prodhan on Wednesday said at a views-exchange meeting with a group of reporters at the bank’s head office at Motijheel in the capital.
Sonali Bank deputy managing directors, general managers and other officials were present in the meeting.
Outlining the bank’s plan for the year 2020, Ataur said that bringing down nonperforming loans to single digit would be a major target of the bank along with reducing operating cost.
Speaking about the criticisms about the SOBs, he said that the state-owned banks had huge contribution to the country’s economy including industrialisation and agricultural productivity.
He said that Sonali Bank had been providing services free of cost to 37 out of 51 banks for the betterment of the country.
He also said that the service quality of Sonali Bank should not be compared with that of the private commercial banks as Sonali Bank served a huge number of customers whereas the private banks served lower number of clients.
He also vowed to ensure top quality service for the bank’s customers as the bank had successfully implemented automation along with completion of required manpower recruitment.
The ratio of NPL to the loans disbursed by the bank in last two-three years was very low, he mentioned.
He also mentioned that Sonali Bank’s operating profit stood at Tk 1,730 crore in the last year against Tk 2,048 crore in 2018.
The implementation of single-digit lending rate since June, 2018 was a major reason for the fall in the bank’s operating profit, he said.
