IslamicFinance.de

Premier Bank in Somalia has successfully gone live with Path Solutions’ iMAL Islamic Banking & Investment System on the 29th of December 2014. The implementation of the new R14 Branch Automation in the latest Java version serves the bank’s purposes of focusing on its business growth, managing risks and controlling costs. Phase I implementation covers System Admin, Accounting, Customer Service Management (CSM), Report Designer, SWIFT, Alerts (SMS Banking), and Processing modules in iMAL. Phase II implementation is already in progress and includes Facility Management System, Islamic Investment System, Provisioning, Profit Calculation System and Integration Manager modules along with Internet Banking, ATM, and Mobile Banking.

National Bank, City Bank and Premier Bank have failed to comply with the central bank's directive to bring down the number of directors from the same family to a maximum of two. The central bank last week asked four private banks to cut the number down in seven days. Only First Security Islami Bank complied with the directive within the deadline, according to Bangladesh Bank. The three other banks sought one to three more months to comply with the directive, but the regulator extended the deadline till October 30, a BB official said. National Bank has five directors from a family. City Bank has nine directors from two families. Four directors of Premier Bank come from one family.

The four private banks’ authorities have long been violating the bank company act, putting their family members on the board of directors. According to the bank company act, 2013, the banks’ board cannot comprise more than two members of a single family. But the four banks still continue their dominion over the board of directors with their family members at the helm. These are the National Bank, the Premier Bank, The City Bank and the First Security Islami Bank.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) of Bangladesh has filed 12 cases against 53 officials of five banks and the Bismillah Group for their alleged involvement in the embezzlement of funded loans worth over Tk9.9bn. The list of the accused included 13 people from Bismillah Group, 12 Janata Bank officials, eight Prime Bank officials, seven Premier Bank officials, five Jamuna Bank officials and eight Shahjalal Islami Bank officials. According to the probe report, Bismillah Group, in association with the bank officials, embezzled the money through loans against trust receipts using names of fake foreign buyers. They secured cash incentives against fake export documents, taking advantage of inland bills purchases and overpricing non-existing export items. The inquiry also found that the group laundered money abroad.