Puts focus on SME, remittance, financial inclusion
FE Report
Trust Bank Ltd has taken a move to expand its business towards diversification aiming to help develop the economic condition of teeming millions of rural areas.
"We are doing our core banking business with utmost professionalism and we are now focusing on small and medium enterprises (SMEs), renewable energy, rural development and remittance to broaden the financial inclusion," Shah A Sarwar, Managing Director & CEO of Trust Bank Ltd told The FE in an interview recently.
A total of 60 branches of the bank are now operative and some more branches will be opened mostly in the rural areas by the end of this year, the bank's chief executive said.
Total branches of the bank will be 70 by the year-end.
"We have launched a project under which we are trying to bring majority of the rural population under banking umbrella," Mr Sarwar added.
A third generation private commercial bank, Trust Bank has recently completed 12 years of its operation.
"It is a big step for Bangladesh's banking sector and we have been able to create a distinction among all the private commercial banks through our professionalism and transparency," Mr Sarwar said in his feelings on completion of 12 years of Trust Bank.
"We are proud of these two indicators (professionalism and transparency) which brought a resounding success for us and we don't believe in any short-term gain."
"In banking business, we always believe in long-term and sustainable development and Trust Bank is progressing fast in compliance of this notion," Mr Sarwar said.
Despite a serious liquidity crisis from the December-end of last year, the bank on an average lent Tk 5.0 billion in call money market due to its prudent policy.
Trust Bank Ltd remained unhurt in the volatile money market in late-2010 as it judiciously maintained the fund management.
"It is always critical for a CEO to strike a right balance between profitability & liquidity while the adequate guidance from the Board, Trust Bank maintained such balance that helped us to remain strong when the market stocked ."Our bank adopted a prudent policy as far as the fund management is concerned and we reaped the dividend out of this policy which gave us a higher edge against our competitors," Mr Sarwar added.
The inter-bank call money market had witnessed abrupt swings for two weeks of December, 2010 and surged 180 per cent at one stage.
It is also important to finance through a segment sectoral balance to avoid structural cash flow issues, Trust Bank could do so successfully when some private commercial banks put money in non-cash generating risky areas, the Trust Bank Ltd remained careful not to indulge.
"In line with the Bangladesh Bank's policy, we were careful about investing in the over-heated stock market and also in other unproductive areas, that's why, we remained safe," Mr Sarwar added.
Replying to a question, he said that his bank adjusted the stock market investment in June of 2010 as the stock market was going up to an unending limit during that time.
