Rupali Bank Limited

Rupali Bank Limited established under the Bangladesh Banks Nationalization Order 1972 by taking over the assets and liabilities of the Muslim Commercial Bank, Australasia Bank and Standard Bank that were functioning in East Pakistan. The bank started operations in March 1972 with an authorized capital of Tk 50 million and paid-up capital of Tk 10 million. The paid up capital was raised to Tk 20 million in 1973. In view of the increased volume of banking activities and business, its authorized and paid-up capital were further increased to Tk 7 billion and Tk 1.25 billion respectively.

Basic Facts and Economic Indicators (In Million Taka)

Indicators 2018 2019 2020
Authorized Capital 7000 7000 7000
Paid up Capital 3765 4141.7 4142
Reserved Fund 6180 12955.1 13910
Deposits 389549 414777.6 532299
a) Call Deposits 56920 45209.7 48138
b) Term Deposits 332629 369567.9 484161
Loans and Advances 247490 306724 336835.4
Investment 82336 10364 160044
Total Asset 463251 497369.6 630547
Total Income 26680 30131.5 33870
Total Expenditure 23460 28114.4 32273
Foreign Currency Trading 157197 40660.3 199960.5
a) Export 26002 2689.3 22834.5
b) Import 114022 15401.8 112076
c) Remittance 17173 22569.2 65050
Total manpower 4929 5641 5935
a) Officers 3481 3906 4257
b) Staff 1448 1735 1678
Correspondent Banks 337 367 350
Total Branches (in numbers) 568 572 583
a) Domestic 568 572 583
b) Overseas 0 0 0
Agriculture Credit
Loan Disbursed 5858 4103 4008
Realised 2958 1686 104
Industrial Credit
Loan Disbursed 23103 44367 31535.1
Realsied 13260 7559 6701
Loan Outstanding by Sector
Agriculture and Fisheries and Forestry 6931 6276 4417
Industry 102466 129972 132408.1
Trade and Commerce 48153 59441 72923.3
Poverty Reduction 1412 1717 2937
CSR 0 145 9

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.

The bank was denationalized on 14 December of 1986 with the provision that the government of Bangladesh would hold at least 51% of its share capital and the rest would be subscribed by the general public. In 1997, the government's share in its paid up capital was 94.55%. Because of the very large share of the government in the bank's capital, it is still considered as a nation aliased commercial bank. On 30 June 2000, the number of shareholders of the bank was 2,723. On that date, its reserve funds stood at Tk 181 million. As of 30 June 2020 the authorized capital and paid up capital of the Bank were 7000 and 4142 million taka respectively

In addition to traditional deposit taking in various accounts and providing loans to almost all sectors of the economy, the bank offers different types of services including agency services to the government in food procurement and collection of government revenue through the network of its branches all over Bangladesh. Rupali Bank has large participation in foreign exchange business including overseas remittance services. The total volume of foreign exchange business handled by the bank in servicing imports and exports of goods and remittance during 1999-2000 amounted to Tk 22.743 billion compared to only Tk 480 million in 1972-73. At present, the bank has correspondent relationships with 350 foreign banks/bank offices throughout the world.

The management of the bank is vested in a 12-member board of directors appointed by the government. The managing director is the chief executive of the bank. The bank has a divisional office at each of the eight administrative divisions of the country and in addition, it has regional offices. The various important divisions/departments of the bank at its head office are for personnel, establishment and welfare, general banking, central accounts, development, planning and research, general credit, specialized credit, international transactions, audit and inspection, law and recovery and rural credit and reconciliation. The bank operates a large-scale foreign trade and also provides different services including transshipment of foreign remittances. Presently the bank is functioning correspondent banking with 350 banks and financial institutions all over the world. Also it had an overseas branch in Karachi.

The bank receives deposit from various service’s accounts and distributes loan in every sector of economy. Moreover, Rupali bank arranges for agency service to the government in food collecting programme and accepts revenue through all the 583 branches across the country. At present, the total number employee of the bank is 5935.

In 2019, bank deposits accounted for 3.3 per cent of total banking sector deposits and loans and advances accounted for 2.8 per cent of total banking sector loans and advances. The average interest rate differential between June 2019 based deposits and loans and advances was 3.56 percent. [Muhammad Abdul Mazid]