However, the bank still requires approval from the central bank to run as a public limited company, sources said.

The sources said the bank along with two other nationalised commercial banks--Sonali Bank and Janata Bank--applied for registration with the RJSCF and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) early last month to operate as public limited company.

The government had asked the banks' managements to apply to the authorities concerned by April 22.

Sonali Bank and Janata Bank are yet to receive the licences.

Agrani Bank Managing Director Naser Bakhtiar, while talking to The Daily Star, said, "We will now write to the central bank for approval to run as a public limited company."

After receiving consent from Bangladesh Bank, the bank's name will be changed to Agrani Bank Limited.

Agrani Bank recently reshuffled its board of directors and made former secretary Siddiqur Rahman chairman.

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund have long been urging privatisation of nationalised commercial banks. They have made it one of the major prerequisites for Bangladesh to receive Poverty Reduction Growth Facility loans.