Uttara Bank Limited

Uttara Bank Limited one of the largest and oldest private sector commercial bank in Bangladesh. It was set up as a scheduled bank of the Eastern Banking Corporation in East Pakistan in 1965 and Corporation started banking on 22 June of the same year. It became a member of the Dhaka Clearing House on 17 September 1965. At the time of establishment Eastern Banking Corporation had a paid up capital of Tk 1.42 million and deposit resources of about Tk 10 million. It was the only scheduled bank established with capital raised entirely from the small income group of people of East Pakistan. Eastern Banking Corporation was nationalised under the Bangladesh Banks (Nationalisation) Order 1972 and took rename Uttara Bank with 95% of its share capital. At that time the bank had 182 branches. The government retracted and allowed it to operate as a private bank. It was transformed into a limited company on 15 September 1983. On 31 December 2000, the authorised capital of the bank was Tk 200 million divided into 2 million ordinary shares of Tk 100 each. Its paid up capital was Tk 100 million, of which Tk 5 million is subscribed by the government. The bank is listed with both Dhaka and Chittagong stock exchange.

Basic facts and economic indicators (in million Taka)
Indicators	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009
Authorised capital	200	200	1000	1000	1600	3200
Paid up capital	100	100	200	399	799	1597
Reserved Fund	1742	1765	1866	2054	2890	4610
Deposits	34615	36892	39360	43586	50817	59387
a) Call Deposits	7990	7839	9918	11978	13625	14222
b) Term Deposits	26625	29053	29442	31608	37192	45166
Loans and Advance	18601	21850	25164	28477	37141	39451
Investment	12794	10062	9565	14456	11188	22503
Total Asset	40155	42062	45217	52860	58444	71946
Total income	3821	4265	4435	5020	6314	7397
Total Expenditure	2611	2650	3153	3554	4008	4883
Foreign Currency Trading	62923	68560	69493	69768	82260	88862
a) Export	19133	18192	18134	14785	15040	15097
b) Import	24080	23090	22631	25408	31147	29129
c) Remittance	19710	27276	28728	29575	36073	44635
Total Manpower	3382	3265	3505	3476	3476	3291
a) Officers	2153	2085	2272	2372	2311	2123
b) Staff	1129	1180	1233	1104	1165	1164
Correspondent Banks	629	629	648	686	720	662
Total Branches (in numbers)	198	198	201	207	207	211
a) Domestic	198	198	201	207	207	211
b) Overseas	-	-	-	-	-	-
Agriculture Credit
a) Loan Disbursed	-	20	-	50	87	253
b) Realised	-	15	-	-	40	75
Industrial Credit
a) Loan Disbursed	3830	4786	6243	3250	7126	5288
b) Realsied	3742	4366	5921	1823	3915	7489
Loan Outstanding by Sector
a) Agriculture and Fisheries	17	16	18	61	73	438
b) Industry	3423	4458	1723	5012	6192	5560
c) Trade and Commerce	10273	9890	11706	15495	2200	16669
d) Poverty Reduction	60	45	48	5	7	35

Source Government of Bangladesh, Ministry of Finance, Banking and Financial Institution Division, Bank o Arthik Prothisthan Samuher Karjaboli [Annual Report on Banks and Financial Institutions], 2004-05 to 2009-10.

The management of the bank is vested in a 13-member board of directors consisting of a chairman and 12 directors. The managing director is the chief executive assisted by a deputy managing director and 2 assistant managing directors. With two corporate offices and 11 divisions at its headquarter banking activities of Uttara Bank Limited in 211 branches are supervised through its 12 zonal offices in different parts of the country.

The authorised capital of the bank stood at Tk 3200 million in 2009 from Tk 1600 million in 2008. The paid up capital rose to Tk 1597 million in 2009 from Tk 799 million in 2008. The reserve fund of the bank stood at Tk 4,610 million in 2009 from Tk 2890 million in 2008.

Uttara Bank performs all traditional commercial banking functions. It renders agency services to the government in food procurement and collection of government revenue through the network of its branches all over the country. The bank has correspondent relationships with 662 foreign banks/bank offices and 65 exchange houses. Of them Arabian Exchange Company in Doha, Qatar is being operated under bank';s own management and supervision. On the other hand wage earners from any place of the world can remit their money to Bangladesh through Money Gram Company of USA under a protocol signed between Uttara Bank and the Money Gram. Money so remitted is transferred to the beneficiaries accounts quickly through 207 branches of the bank.

With the objective of attracting the Bangladeshi wage earners abroad and the non-resident foreigners to invest in Bangladesh, the bank offered them the opportunity to open Non-resident Foreign Currency Deposit (NFCD) account, Foreign Currency Current Deposit (FCCD) account, Wage Earners Development Bond (WEDB) and Non-resident Investment Taka Account (NRITA). For this purposes the bank established Home Remittance Cell (SRC). The bank has some other schemes to induce the wage earners to invest their savings in the securities market of the country. Any Bangladeshi national can open Resident Foreign Currency Deposit (RFCD) account with any authorised branch of Uttara Bank to retain excess of foreign travel quota, or foreign exchange earning. The bank has earned a reputation and confidence of the wage earners in successfully transmitting foreign income to their beneficiaries promptly and without hassles. Remittances rose to Tk 44,635 million in 2009 from Tk 36073 million in 2008. Money remitted from any corner of world is ascertaind to be deposited in the account of the recipient within two hours of its arrival under Express Payment Scheme of Uttara Bank. Clients who have no account in the bank can receive remittance in cash in the counter through their passports, driving licenses, remittance cards, voter ID cards and credit cards under its Instant Cash Scheme. Besides, the bank delivers a draft dispatched by a money sending company, to the address of the recipient and pays him the equivalent money of the foreign currency under Instant Draft Scheme.

E-mail and Internet connections are available in almost all the branches of the bank including headquarters to speed up foreign exchange transactions. Swift system is available in 38 branches and international division. It has introduced Q-Cash, UBL-ATM Debit Card through which the customer can draw cash and transfer money within 24 hours. It has an individual ATM booth. This service of the bank is operated all over the country through 121 Q-cash ATM booths and all ATM booths of brac bank. Bank has introduced Nari Swanirvar Rin Prokalpa to make the women entrepreneurs self-supporting.

The bank is actively associated with syndicated financing to innovate both domestic and foreign investments in Bangladesh. Bank has participated in syndicated lending to AKTEL, BRAC, Dhaka Telephone Company Limited, Rankstel Limited, BSRM Steels Limited, Grameenphone Limited, Warid Telecome Limited, Sheba Telecom Limited, Venture Capital Energy Limited, Akber Composit Limited, Rising Spinning Limited, Malancha Holding Limited, Banga Builders Limited etc.

To meet the credit demand of small income group of rural and the urban area and to create employment for jobless youths and young women, the bank has introduced some special credit facilities. Bank is channeling special credit through its Bhagalpur branch in Kishoreganj district in dairy and poultry products to create job for the poor segment population of the area. Bank has been maintaining a special marketing outlet 'Uttaran since 1996, which is becoming popular among the buyers of marginal income. [Muhammad Abdul Mazid]