The inaugural ceremony of Sammilito Islami Bank has been canceled due to security concerns. The ceremony was organized at the Intercontinental Hotel Dhaka in the capital on Sunday (January 225) at 10:00am.
Multiple sources related to the banking industry and Finance Ministry said that information was received that the bank's depositors and some bank officials at various levels in Chittagong had announced a siege program for the inaugural ceremony.
The program was also being promoted on social media. In such a situation, the decision to cancel the ceremony was taken as a precautionary measure to avoid possible unpleasant incidents.
Sources said that the matter was discussed between Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H. Mansur and Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed.
After the discussion, the decision to cancel the inaugural ceremony was finalized considering the security situation.
Salehuddin Ahmed was supposed to be present as the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony. The special guests were Md Khairuzzaman Majumder, secretary of the Financial Institutions Division of the Ministry of Finance, and Ahsan H Mansur, governor of Bangladesh Bank.
Mohammad Ayub Miah, chairman of Sammilito Islami Bank, was supposed to preside over the program.
In addition, guests from various levels, including top officials of Bangladesh Bank, the Ministry of Finance, and the financial sector, were supposed to be present.
According to relevant sources, depositors of some banks and some bank officials of Chittagong had been expressing dissatisfaction with the bank's recent activities, liquidity situation, and some management-related issues.
It is also reported that they were preparing for a siege program at the venue on the day of the inaugural program. Considering these considerations, the program has been canceled as a precautionary measure to avoid security risks.
Sammilito Islami Bank is being formed by merging five banks. The process of appointing the bank's Managing Director (MD) is underway and it is reported that the appointment may be finalized this week.
After that, there are plans to complete the recruitment of several top-level positions including deputy managing director, chief financial officer, and company secretary.
Sammilito Islami Bank is the country's first state-owned Shariah-based bank.
The main goal of forming this bank is to increase financial inclusion by conducting banking activities following Sharia principles and to strengthen the state's participation in the Islamic banking sector.
The five banks that are being formed by merging are First Security Islami Bank, Global Islami Bank, Union Bank, Exim Bank and Social Islami Bank.
Out of these five banks, Exim Bank was owned by Nazrul Islam Majumder, former chairman of the Bangladesh Association of Banks (BAB), an organization of bank entrepreneurs.
The other four banks were under the control of Saiful Alam, the head of the Chittagong-based S Alam Group. There are allegations that they have shares in these banks in their names and anonymously and were also involved as loan beneficiaries.
