New Dhaka Bank MD sets sight on quality growth
Emranul Huq has taken over the helm of Dhaka Bank with a goal to bring down bad loans, beef up corporate governance and widen the lender's footprint.
"I will work to have a strong capital base, clean books and quality business. We want growth with quality," he told The Daily Star over telephone yesterday.
Huq assumed the twin roles of managing director and chief executive officer of Dhaka Bank on February 22 on a two-year term.
Prior to the new position, he was serving the bank as the additional managing director and chief business officer.
Huq succeeds Syed Mahbubur Rahman, who decamped to Mutual Trust Bank in November last year.
Dhaka Bank's default loan ratio is less than 5 per cent of total outstanding loans, comfortably below than the banking sector's average of 10 per cent.
But Huq, who started his career with the Bank of Credit & Commerce International in Dhaka as management trainee in 1986, has set his sights on bringing it down to 3 per cent.
Dhaka Bank is largely known as a corporate lender. Huq has targeted to change the image: he wants to expand the bank's small- and medium-sized enterprises loan portfolio and retail banking operations.
"We will set up more sub-branches in cities and villages to bring more people under the coverage of the banking sector," he said, adding that the bank would also increase its home loans.
Set up in 1995, Dahak Bank has 106 branches.
Before joining Dhaka Bank in 1998, Huq worked at Eastern Bank and Credit Africa Bank in Zambia. He obtained his Bachelor of Commerce with Honours in Management from the University of Dhaka.
During his long tenure with Dhaka Bank, Huq served in various key positions, including deputy managing director for business banking.
Shares of Dhaka Bank, which made its debut on the premier bourse in 2000, closed 4.1 per cent lower at Tk 11.70 yesterday.
Its earnings per share in the first nine months of 2019 was Tk 1.26, up from Tk 1.19 a year earlier, according to the bank's unaudited financial statement.
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