Grameen Bank gets new chairman

The government has appointed AKM Saiful Majid, a professor of the Institute of Business Administration of Dhaka University, chairman of Grameen Bank for two years.

Prof Majid will be a director and the chairman of the board of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning organisation, the financial institutions division under the finance ministry said in a circular on Sunday.

The post of the chairman of the microlender fell vacant after government-appointed chairman Khandaker Mozammel Haque died in August last year. He had been serving the board since 2011.

Grameen Bank has a 12-member board, with the government appointing three directors, including the chairman, and the borrower-shareholders elect nine directors.

The government owns 25 per cent stakes in the bank and the borrower-shareholders hold 75 per cent.   

Prof Majid served IBA as professor, associate professor and assistant professor along with several administrative positions in the last 25 years. He also served the institute as the director.

He served Eastern University as the vice-chancellor and chairman of the trustee board and worked as a visiting teacher of the University of Kassel in Germany.

He is a recipient of the Senior Fulbright Fellowship awarded by the US Department of State in 2010.