Former Owners Regain Control of Al-Arafah Bank

Photo: Collected

News Desk: Bangladesh Bank has returned the management of Al-Arafah Bank to its former shareholder-directors by appointing 14 sponsor shareholders to the bank's board of directors.

The appointments were approved on Wednesday, increasing the board's size from five independent directors to 19 members, Bangladesh Bank Executive Director and spokesperson Arif Hossain Khan confirmed.

Following the political transition in August 2024, the bank had been managed by a five-member board of independent directors after the previous board was dissolved. During the Awami League administration, the bank's chairman was Abdus Samad Labu, brother of S. Alam Group chairman Saiful Alam (S. Alam).

Arif Hossain Khan said Bangladesh Bank had dissolved the boards of 16 banks, but Al-Arafah Bank's financial condition has improved, allowing sponsor-shareholder directors to return.

"Unlike some other banks whose former entrepreneurs cannot be located, Al-Arafah Bank's sponsor shareholders are available. As a result, management has been handed back to them," he said.

New Board Members

The newly appointed 14-member board includes three representatives from KDS Group:

• Khalilur Rahman, Chairman of KDS Group
• Mahbub Ahmed, Representative Director of KDS Garments
• Farid Uddin Ahmed, Representative Director of KDS Textiles

The remaining directors are:

• Former Chairman Badiur Rahman
• Enayet Ullah, who contested the last general election from Dhaka-7 as a Jamaat-e-Islami candidate
• Selim Rahman
• Ahamedul Haque
• Rafiqul Islam
• Imadur Rahman
• Nazmul Ahsan Khaled
• Anwar Hossain
• Abdus Salam
• Liaquat Ali Chowdhury
• Sharif Uddin Taslim, Representative Director of KY Steel Mills

After the fall of the Awami League government, Bangladesh Bank had appointed Khwaja Shahriar as independent director and chairman of the board.

The other independent directors—Md. Shahin Ul Islam, Md. Abdul Wadud, M. Abu Yusuf, and Mohammad Ashraful Hasan—will continue to serve on the reconstituted board.

The newly formed board will now elect a new chairman from among its members.