HBM Iqbal blames bankers for bad loans

Premier Bank Chairman HBM Iqbal yesterday blamed banks’ executives for rising non-performing loans in the industry.

He said the branch manager, the credit division and the managing director of a bank or financial institution pick out loan proposals for approval by the boards.

“If bankers investigate and assess the proposals properly before lending, there will be no possibility of creation of non-performing loans.”

Iqbal said without the involvement of bankers, there is no scope for creating bad loans in any bank or financial institution.

He was addressing a press conference on the occasion of the 20th founding anniversary of the private commercial bank at the Iqbal Centre in Banani in the city.

The chairman emphasised upgradation of rules and regulations to avoid NPL and protect depositors’ money.

“Under the present rules and regulations, defaulters take advantage of the weakness of laws. So, there is requirement to make the laws up to date,” Iqbal said.

The amount of NPL of Premier Bank is Tk 650 crore, which is 4.5 percent of its total liquidity and a standard level of bad loan ratio, its Managing Director M Reazul Karim said.

“The amount of the NPL is going down gradually.”

He said Premier Bank would open 500 agent banking booths in rural areas within next two years with a view to bringing the village people under the banking network.

The bank will give priority to small and medium enterprises while giving out loans as the sector is growing fast and there is less possibility of the loans going sour, Karim said.

Muhammed Ali, adviser of the bank, said Premier Bank has been playing an important role in the economy through industrial development and exports growth since its establishment in 1999.

Moin Iqbal, vice-chairman of the bank, and Abdus Salam Murshedy, a director, also spoke.