Nazrul Islam
The Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL), the first Shariah-based bank in Bangladesh, is improving its financial health continuously in last four years, according to the Banker, a prestigious international financial news magazine.
The leading private commercial bank (PCB) of Bangladesh has been securing its place in the “World’s Top 1000 Banks” since 2012, as rated by the Banker. The IBBL position in the list was 1000th in 2012, 984th, 970th & 954th in 2013, 2014 and 2015 respectively.
The Banker is a London based monthly international financial affairs publication, owned by The Financial Times Limited, published since January 1926.
The influential magazine publishes the list of top 1000 banks in July each year based on the findings of its own database. This ranking serves to recognize global leaders in the industry for their achievements, ranking the world's banks by Tier 1 capital globally, as well as by individual country.
They assessed banks by Tier 1 capital, with secondary rankings by assets, capital/asset ratio, real profit growth, profit on average capital, and return on assets.
The magazine has been rating the Top 1000 World Banks ranking setting the industry benchmark since 1970, providing comprehensive intelligence about the health and wealth of the banking sector.
Its database provides comprehensive financial data, news feeds and executive contact data on the leading banks in every country. The data have also been standardized for regional reporting and regulatory variations, and forms the basis of The Banker's monthly bank rankings.
The Banker's primary focus is global financial comment and insight, featuring opinion pieces, profiles and interviews with leading banking and finance figures.
By securing position in the “World’s Top 1000 Banks”, in fact, the IBBL has obtained recognition as a global standard bank in Bangladesh in terms of Tier 1 capital, assets, capital/asset ratio, real profit growth, profit on average capital, and return on assets.
The IBBL has also made Bangladesh proud of being included among the best 1000 banks in the world. This prestigious ranking in Bangladesh is the sign of improvement of its financial sector and its image in global financial arena.
Such achievement will help the IBBL to create strong brand image and credibility as most of the chief executive officers (CEOs) and chief financial officers (CFOs) of banks around the world read the magazine regularly.
Besides, the Banker is read most widely in financial institutions, multilateral corporations, central banks and finance ministries across the world.
The Banker’s evaluation will also help the country’s leading Shariah-based bank to expedite its foreign trade through setting up letters of credit (LCs) with different influential global banks across the world.
In 2015, a total of 1000 banks from 104 countries out of 193 across the world secured their position on the latest “World’s Top 1000 Banks” chart of the Banker, where the number of US banks stood at 173 and Bangladeshis bank is only one.
Only 47 banks from four SAARC countries (Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) out of eight secured places in the “World’s Top 1000 Banks” list of the Banker this year while 536 banks from 27 Asian countries out of 48 were included in the chart.
The IBBL has been working to ensure equity and justice in all economic activities for achieving a sustainable and balanced growth and equitable socio-economic development since its inception on March 30, 1983.
As the country’s leading PCB, the IBBL is contributing to the balanced economic growth in Bangladesh through diversification of its investment portfolios by size, sector and geographical area for achieving its ultimate institutional vision. Its goal is to ensure soundness and development of the financial system based on Islamic principles and values.
The IBBL is continuously upgrading its customer services, corporate governance and corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities with an innovative and caring professional attitude.
The IBBL is now being treated as the reference bank of Shariah banking in the country as well as across the globe due to its firm practice of shariah guidelines and compliance of all regulatory rules.
Nazrul Islam is assistant vice president of the IBBL. E-mail: nazrulibbl@gmail.com