Quality credit helped improve Sonali Bank’s health: MD

Almost all the indicators of state-run Sonali Bank improved now rather than earlier due to disbursement of quality loans, said its managing director and CEO Md Afzal Karim.

The bank was able to reduce its capital shortfall, loss-making branches and at the same time the bank's loans growth increased, said the state-run bank CEO in a press conference at the head office of the bank on Monday.

Credit growth of the bank has increased after a long time and the outstanding loans and advances stood at Tk100809 crore at the end of December last year, which helped to make an operating profit of Tk3727 crore, up from Tk2382 crore a year ago.

Afzal Karim said that the state-run bank now focuses on cashless banking and they are working to make a cashless society.

He also said that the bank capital shortfall was at Tk6,782 crore and the capital shortfall had continued to rise at that time despite recapitalization by the government.

"But now the government suspended the recapitalization to state banks but we are able to reduce the capital shortfall to Tk4400 crore, which is a record among the state-run banks."

Last year, the bank's Tk827 crore income came from interest income. The state-run lender's loss-making branches stood at 9 at the end of last year, down from 17 in a year ago.

Afzal Karim informed that his bank is going to open an exchange house in Maldives and the bank already took the approval from the central bank.

Replying to a question about the country's foreign exchange market, he said that there was a huge demand supply gap of foreign currency in the concluding year that is why the market was so volatile.

He however expects that the forex situation will improve in the new year. Senior officials of the state-run bank also were present in the press conference.