Uttara Bank formed in 1972 as a scheduled bank with assets and liabilities of the Eastern Banking Corporation set up in East Pakistan on 28 January 1965. It started banking business 22 June 1965 and 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 formed 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 its name was changed to Uttara Bank. At that time, the bank had 182 branches. The government retracted 95% of its share capital 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 issued and 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 Exchanges.

The 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 total volume of foreign exchange business handled by the bank during 1998-99 amounted to Tk 16,600 million which comprised exports servicing Tk 4,450 million, imports financing Tk 10,560 million and remittances facilities Tk 1,590 million. The bank has correspondent relationships with 300 foreign banks/bank offices and exchange houses in 72 countries. 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 accounts and foreign currency current deposit accounts with it. Further, the bank floated Wage Earners' Development Bond and established Wage Earners Investment Cell. The bank has some other schemes to induce the wage earners to invest their savings in the securities market of the country.

The volume of deposits at the bank in 1972 was Tk 4.43 million of which Tk 2.44 million comprised demand deposits. Prior to privatisation in 1983, the deposits were Tk 21.81 million and their volume increased to Tk 24,730 million in December 2000. Total loans and advances including bills purchased and discounted amounted to Tk 2.34 million in 1972 and Tk 22,307 million in December 2000. The interest rate offered by the bank on the savings deposits in both rural and urban areas is 7.25%, while the lending rates charged by it on different sectors varied between 10% and 16.5%, the lowest being charged on export credits. The broad economic areas in which the bank provided lending and the total outstanding amount of advances to those areas upto June 1999 were (a) agriculture and fisheries Tk 26 million, (b) small and cottage, large and medium sized industry Tk 4,675 million, (c) retail/wholesale trade and hotels and restaurants Tk 2,202 million, (d) transport/communication and storage Tk 169 million, (e) special credit programmes including poverty alleviation Tk 134 million, (f) insurance, real estate and business services Tk 5,523 million, and (g) others Tk 3,771 million.

In December 2000, the total assets including off-balance sheet items of the bank were valued at Tk 31,296.5 million. The quality of assets was severely deteriorated due to accumulation of a huge amount of non-performing loans. The bank's classified loans amounted to Tk 7,372 million in December 2000. The bank's investments in government securities, treasury bills, debentures and shares and other approved securities were Tk 108.5 million in 1972 and Tk 2,564 million in 1999. Up to December 1999, its loans to the government amounted to Tk 50 million. In addition, the bank lent Tk 115 million in 1999 in poverty alleviation projects and Tk 129 million in a special project called Uttaran, the objective of which was to assist the customers with credit facility for buying consumer goods.

In 2000, the total and net income of the bank was Tk 3,060 million and Tk 1,040 million respectively. The bank's net interest income increased during the period from 1992 to 2000. But the increase in operating expenses arrested the growth of its net income. Also, the compulsory maintenance of provisions for classified loans from profit is responsible for slow growth of its net income.

The management of the bank is vested in a 15-member board of directors consisting of a chairman and 14 directors. The managing director is the chief executive assisted by a deputy managing director and 2 assistant managing directors. In 2001, the bank had 198 branches (150 urban and 48 rural) and the number of employees in all its branches 2,822 including 84 executives, 1,756 officers, 326 assistant officers, and 656 employees of non-officer grades. The bank's branch banking is supervised through its 12 zonal offices in different parts of the country. [S M Mahfuzur Rahman]