NCC Bank Ltd, a second generation private commercial bank (PCB) turns 25 today (Thursday) aiming to broaden its services among the teeming millions across the country.
The second generation PCB began its journey with 16 branches on May 17, 1993.
“ During the initial years, we were shy to be exposed widely and only remained committed to our operation, but with the passing of time, we are now matured enough as far as financial strength and branding of our image are concerned, ” managing director & CEO of the bank, Mosleh Uddin Ahmed told the FE.
He said the bank now enjoys a solid financial position underpinned by a prudent and diligent business strategy.
“We remained unhurt during the recent financial turmoil just because of our rock-solid financial strength,” Mr Mosleh Uddin Ahmed asserted.
He said the bank has no provision shortfall and has been able to pay cash dividend to its shareholders for the last three years.
The bank paid 12.75 per cent cash dividend in 2015, 16 per cent in 2016 and 13 per cent in 2017.
An additional Tk 1.16 billion was set aside as provision against the classified and unclassified loans last year with a view to strengthening its financial health, according to Mr Ahmed, a career banker.
He said the bank’s exposure is now at par with the leading PCBs of the country and it is a real achievement of NCC Bank in the last 25 years.
“We want to be more pro-active to the common businessmen and traders so that financial inclusion gets a real boost and our unfeigned commitment will make us one of the top banks in compliance by 2019,” the NCC Bank MD said.
NCC Bank maintained a balanced growth in deposit and credit last year which helped it keep the loan-deposit ratio within the permissible limit.
According to the bank's balance sheet, the loan-deposit ratio stood at 83.56 percent, lower than the central bank's authorised limit of 85 percent for traditional banks.
The bank hasn't faced any difficulties in lending to borrowers in recent times as its deposit growth stood at 22 per cent against the credit growth of 17 per cent last year, Ahmed said. The bank's trade financing grew 52.67 per cent last year.
It spent as much as Tk 80 million to ensure cyber security.
He said NCC Bank has already signed an agreement with Standard & Poor’s to assess the ranking of the bank.
“We hope we will get a good result from a globally reputed company like S & P,” he added.
Moreover, NCC Bank is seeking a strategic partnership with an internationally reputed company.
“Such a strategic partnership with a globally famous company will raise our credibility and prestige and no doubt, our capital-base will be strengthened further,” Mr Mosleh Uddin Ahmed said.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the bank, Md. Nurun Newaz Selim, Vice -Chairman Sohela Hossain and Directors Khairul Alam Chaklader attended a press conference Wednesday to share the success and future outlook the bank.
NCC Bank started commercial banking operations converted from an investment company ‘National Credit Limited’ with 16 branches and currently operates through 111 branches.
NCC’s total deposits, advances and profit at the end of the year 2017 rose to Tk 159,988.45 million, Tk 146,633.84 million and Tk 5,354.06 million respectively.
“Our position in terms of remittance collection ranked fifth in the country with 56 per cent rise compared to the previous year,” Md. Nurun Newaz Selim said.
Total import and export amounts soared to Tk 83,722.55 million and Tk. 25,893.60 million in 2017 with growth of 49 per cent and 55 per cent respectively.
“We will launch three new services such as Gold Savings Account, Festive Loan & Travel Loan soon to support our growing tech-savvy services,” the NCC Bank MD said.
Now the bank has 112 branches across the country and four will be opened by the end of next month (June).
The paid-up capital of the bank stood at Tk 8.83 billion in 2017.
Commenting on the overall banking and economy of the country, the NCC Bank MD said the widening gap between export and import should be minimised through diversifying the export basket.
As per BB data, exports have recorded around 7.0 per cent growth in the first nine months of the current fiscal year, while imports surged by 24.50 per cent during the same period.
“PCBs area of operations should be segregated so that different segments of the economy get priority from the PCBs to ensure integrated development of the economy,” the NCC Bank MD said.
"Now we see all banks run madly for their businesses to a small group of conglomerates, but if the regulator segregates the mode of operations of the PCBs, such unhealthy concentration will be reduced to a large extent," he said explaining his point of arguments.
If segregated, the PCBs will operate in their respective areas only, much to the relief of the present ill-practices, he commented.
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