• Published on 5 January 2018
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Farmers Bank appoints Ehsan Khasru as new CEO

Trouble-hit Farmers Bank has appointed veteran banker Md Ehsan Khasru as its new managing director with an aim to regain the confidence of depositors and clients.

Bangladesh Bank yesterday approved the appointment. The central bank issued a letter to the bank saying Khasru would be allowed to serve as MD for the next three years.

The restructured board of the bank took the decision to appoint Khasru last month.

A former managing director of Prime Bank, Khasru said, "Regaining the confidence of depositors and clients is the biggest challenge for me.”

But he knows that it would not be so easy for him.

He said the shareholders will have to inject further equity into the bank.

"And, if we can bring institutional strategic investments into the bank in the shortest possible time, we will be able to run the bank efficiently," he told The Daily Star. Among other priorities, the career banker said he has to re-brand the bank as soon as possible.

Khasru will replace AKM Shameem, who was sacked by the central bank on December 19 for his failure to protect the depositors' interests and manage liquidity.

Muhiuddin Khan Alamgir, chairman of Farmers Bank, and Md Mahabubul Haque Chisty, chairman of the audit committee, were also made to resign from the bank's board in November for their alleged involvement in loan irregularities.

Farmers Bank made headlines in the last three months after the BB found corruption and irregularities at the bank's three branches. The lender had allegedly indulged in irregularities just within a year of its inception in 2013.

Recently, there have been allegations that due to a severe cash crunch, the bank failed to pay back many depositors who approached it to encash their fixed-term deposits upon maturity.

Khasru started his banking career in 1983 as a probationary officer at National Bank.

He worked for City Bank as additional managing director. He also worked with American Express Bank, Royal Bank of Canada and the Bank of Montreal. He was an adviser to Premier Bank.

Khasru obtained an MBA degree from the Institute of Business Administration under Dhaka University after completing graduation in economics from the same university. He has been elected as an adviser to the Global Economist Forum-Bangladesh, a consultant organisation of the United Nations, for 2017-18.

Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker from Thedailystar.net