Though a student of Zoology, Dr. Mohammad Haidar Ali Miah successfully turned himself into a prominent banker after he completed his PhD. Being a passionate banker, he prefers connecting with the masses by providing ideal services through his bank. He emphasizes on cultivating strong ties with the people and is always encouraging the youth of the nation to peruse entrepreneurial roles instead of looking for jobs.
Elaborating on his banking strategies he said, “Exim Bank is a 3rd generation bank in Bangladesh and was formerly known as Bexim Bank. As of 2004, we joined the ranks as one of the eight full-fledged banks to follow the Sharia based Islamic Banking system. Islamic Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL) is the frontrunner in this sector as they have had a longer period to strengthen their root level marketing while growing their borrower base.”
All their stakeholders, including the Bangladesh Bank, have been inspiring and pushing them to become the number one bank in their field. “We are training all our human resources on Islamic Banking. However, this does not mean we restrict ourselves regarding the people we’re involved with. We recruit people from all religions and have tailored our service model to suit the needs of all our customers,” commented Dr. Haider.
Managing Director and CEO
EXIM Bank Limited
Exim Bank has drawn the attention of customers and businessmen in need of worthy banking services through their commitment to quality. Dr. Haider elaborates, “Our mission is to provide our clients with the best services available. That is our popularity is growing. Our manpower is devoted to client services and ensure that people never leave the bank dissatisfied.” In addition to adhering to these stringent quality levels, Exim Bank also maintains their reputation through their extensive social activities. “We are providing zakat of 2.5% on our income, which is distributed to the under privileged. In addition to this, 5% of our income goes to our CSR wing which uses the funds to contribute to the Prime Minister’s Zakat Fund, educational institutions and the burn unit of Dhaka medical College and so on.”
When inquired about his stance on their agricultural loan program he postulated, “Developing our agricultural sector is also part of our responsibility to the enhancement of our economy. It is one of our missions to see the rural economic development of Bangladesh as we believe this can provide the necessary boost which will move us towards a Middle Income Country (MIC) status by 2021. To facilitate the progress in this sector we are encouraging people to opt for our agro-based loan schemes which includes loans for tenant cropping, poultry, fisheries, dairy and also special loans for women entrepreneurs in rural areas.” Dr. Haider holds the vision to create more entrepreneurs. He expounds on this, “We have a catch phrase which is – don’t chase jobs; instead, create them. Most of the people apply for loans at our bank are from this category. Also, our recovery rate from the Agricultural sector is 100% which is an accomplishment which has been lauded thrice by the Bangladesh Bank.”
When broached about the issue of cyber security, he elaborates on the state of the art software used in Exim Bank’s activities, “We are using world class software from Switzerland which has its own Islamic banking version. We have heard of ATM forgeries in other banks but this has never happened with us. When it comes to the SWIFT, we have five layers of firewalls, making it almost impenetrable. We are also investing heavily in IT-centric human capital and strengthening internal compliances so that there can be no doubt regarding security issues at our bank.”
“Exim Bank has drawn the attention of customers and businessmen in need of worthy banking services through their commitment to quality.”
With the world becoming more IT oriented, Exim have recognized the need to groom the future generation to take over. As such, Dr. Haider explains, “We are training and prioritizing the growth of the younger generation in our bank. They are being provided greater freedom and the seniors have been advised to share their extensive knowledge with these bankers of the future. IT has become the change agent and to adapt to this change agent, we will require capable recruits who know how to work in these spaces. The average age of our employees is around 33, which shows you that we are opting for younger faces to make up the bulk of our banking team. We are recruiting them from the management trainee level and then grooming them for the future.”
Regarding the competition in the industry and the loan distribution mix he expressed that the cases were complicated but the banks stance was still very aggressive. “We are prioritizing the Small and Medium Enterprises. We have reduced our deposit rate to around 6% and our lending rates were around 10% which allowed us to keep 4% at hand to meet our expenses. However, our lending rate is falling to 9.5% while the Bangladesh Bank has asked to maintain a 5% spread. This will be difficult especially with people crowding towards savings certificates which are providing double digit returns.”
