History of Bangladesh Krishi Bank

Preamble & History of Bangladesh Krishi Bank

1.01 (History)

The Agricultural Development Finance Corporation established by the Government of Pakistan in 1952, started functioning from the middle of 1953. Subsequently the Government of Pakistan, set up Agricultural Bank of Pakistan in 1957, which started its operation from early 1958. These two state-owned credit institutions were merged in February, 1961 and became Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan.

On December 16, 1971, the Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan became Agricultural Development Bank of Bangladesh and, subsequently, re-named as Bangladesh Krishi Bank under Bangladesh Krishi Bank Order, 1973 (President’s Order No. 27 of 1973).

Bangladesh Krishi Bank (BKB) is a state-owned banking institution. The Board of Directors of the Bank appointed by the Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh consists of a Chariman and ten Directors consisting of eight officials including the Managing Director and tow non-officials. The Bank’s policy is formulated by the Board of Directors.

There is a three member Executive Committee composed of the Chairman, the Managing Director and a Director. The Executive Committee deals with any matter within the competence of the Board of Directors.

1.02 Functions

The Primary objective of BKB is to provide credit facilities to the farmers for the development of agriculture and to entrepreneurs engaged in development of agro-based and cottage industries. About 85% of the total population of Bangladesh depends directly or indirectly on agriculture contributing significantly to GDP. The Bank is guided in accordance with the opoicies and principles of the Government of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh. The bank started commercial functioning since 1977 with the objective of generating more lonable fund from the idle rural and urban savings and investing them for the betterment of the ecomomy.

1.03 Management

The Bank has a Board of Directors comprising of 11 members. The Board is headed by a Chairman. The Directors represent both public and private sectors and are appointed by the government. The Board Chairman generally is an experienced ex-professional who has wide acceptability.

1.04 Organizational Structure

The bank fuctions through its 930 branches (except Rajshahi Division) of which 800 are rural and 130 are urban. It has 13 Foreign exchange (Authorized Dealer) branches. In the field level, the Bank has 8 Divisional Offices and 51 Regional Offices for close supervision of branch activities. For smooth working it has 56 field level Audit Offices at divisional and regional levels. The Managing Director, the Chief Executive of the Bank, is appointed by the government. The bank has also two Deputy Managing Directors. In the Head Office ther are four Divisions headed by General Managers. The divisions are - Administration, Planning & Operation, Accounts & International and Recovery Division. Under the control and supervision of the four divisions, 28 departments/offices are working in the Head Office headed by Deputy Geneala