City Bank Limited, The

City Bank Limited, The is one of the oldest private commercial banks operating in Bangladesh. The bank started its operations on 28 March 1983 with an authorised capital of Tk 200 million divided into 2,000,000 ordinary shares of Tk 100 each and paid up capital of Tk 34 million, of which Tk 30 million was paid up by its promoters and the remaining amount by the government. In 2020, the bank's authorized capital rose to Tk 15,000 million and paid up capital rose to Tk. 10164 million.

A 12-member board of directors including the chairman and a vice-chairman runs the management of the bank. Three Deputy Managing Directors, seven head of departments, assist the Managing Director and the Chief Executive. It had 6 regional offices established at the 6 divisional towns/cities.

The bank conducts all types of commercial banking activities. Core businesses of the bank include deposit mobilization, lending and foreign exchange dealing. City Bank is among the very few local banks which do not follow the traditional, decentralized, geographically managed, branch based business or profit model. Instead the bank manages its business and operation vertically from the head office through 4 distinct business divisions namely, Corporate and Investment Banking; Retail Banking (including Cards); SME Banking; and Treasury and Market Risks.

Under a real-time online banking platform, these 4 business divisions are supported at the back by a robust IT-based service delivery setup. Such centralised business segment based business and operating model ensure specialised treatment and services to the bank's different customer segments.

Basic Facts and Economic Indicators (In Million Taka)

Indicators	2018	2019	2020
Authorized Capital	15000	15000	15000
Paid up Capital	9679.9	10163.9	10164
Reserved Fund	14750.1	16427.1	18654.5
Deposits	205170.2	246703.7	254781.1
a) Call Deposits	33095.8	46847.6	52670.7
b) Term Deposits	172074.4	199856.1	202110.4
Loans and Advance	231391.5	246943.7	268201.5
Investment	27882	39451.5	46251.4
Total Asset	324780.3	354602.6	382925.8
Total Income	29670	34271.9	31508.4
Total Expenditure	22990.8	25984.8	24468.6
Foreign Currency Trading	323176	365095.2	335095.5
a) Export	120698	197590.1	119987
b) Import	173847	130240.8	180817.5
c) Remittance	28631	37264.3	34291
Total Manpower	3858	4493	4356
a) Officers	3516	4166	4042
b) Staff	342	327	314
Correspondent Banks	491	466	469
Total Branches (in numbers)	131	132	132
a) Domestic	131	132	132
b) Overseas	0	0	0
Agriculture Credit
Loan Disbursed	2774.1	2436.6	4367.1
Realised	4585.9	3296.7	4522.7
Industrial Credit
Loan Disbursed	195626.7	178301.6	128002.2
Realsied	168278.9	171824.4	109511.8
Loan Outstanding by Sector
Agriculture and Fisheries and Forestry	1021.5	899.4	759.8
Industry	45167.9	50468.6	60917.8
Trade and Commerce	31331.3	34134.8	29871.4
Poverty Reduction	42.6	37.5	40
CSR	75.3	144.3	249.3

Source Government of Bangladesh, Ministry of Finance, Banking and Financial Institution Division, Barshik Protibedon [Annual Report on Banks and Financial Institutions], 2019-20 and 2020-21.

City Bank is the first bank in Bangladesh to have issued Dual Currency Credit Card. The bank is a principal member of VISA international and it issues both Local Currency (Taka) and Foreign Currency (US Dollar) card limits in a single plastic. VISA Debit Card is another popular product which the bank is pushing hard in order to ease out the queues at the branch created by its astounding base of some 400,000 retail customers. The launch of VISA Prepaid Card for the travel sector is currently underway.

City Bank has launched American Express Credit Card and American Express Gold Credit card in November 2009. City Bank is the local caretaker of the brand and is responsible for all operations supporting the issuing of the new credit cards, including billing and accounting, customer service, credit management and charge authorizations, as well as marketing the cards in Bangladesh. Both cards are international cards and accepted by the millions of merchants operating on the American Express global merchant network in over 200 countries and territories including Bangladesh. It also introduced exclusive privileges for the card members under the American Express Selects program in Bangladesh. This will entitle any American Express card members to enjoy savings on retail and dining at some of the finest establishment in Bangladesh.

City Bank is one of the largest corporate banks in the country with a current business model that heavily encourages and supports the growth of the bank in Retail and SME Banking. The bank is on its way to opening many independent SME centers across the country within a short time. The bank is active in the workers' foreign remittance business. It has strong tie-ups with major exchange companies in the Middle East, Europe, Far East and USA, from where thousands of individual remittances come to the country every month for disbursements through the bank's large network of 97 online branches and SME service centers. The management wants to turn the bank into a financial supermarket for financial products and services. It has to adopt a ‘centralised’ form of banking where individual or retail customers will approach the branch while the corporate clientele will be served from the head office and regional corporate offices and SME clientele will be served from the SME centers. All this would be backed by efficient operations service delivery units at head office supported by a robust IT backbone.

The bank has broadened their business line and launched its brokerage operations in the capital market. The bank is establishing their own switching system for both debit as well as credit cards from their current third party switching system. This investment in IT system will enable their customers, access to exciting new products and enhance bank's capabilities to offer premier product features of international repute.

In 2019 bank deposits accounted for 1.9 per cent of total banking sector deposits and loans and advances accounted for 2.3 per cent of total banking sector loans and advances. The average interest rate differential between June 2019 based deposits and loans and advances was 4.0 percent. [Muhammad Abdul Mazid]