The world economy is going through various crises arising from insurgent activities at various parts of the globe. The turbulence also affected Bangladesh Economy adversely as well. Taka has been devalued. The political unrest caused devastation to the industrial and service sectors. The business community as a whole, apprehending imminent doom, tried to negotiate for a compromise among the various concerned parties. However, by the grace of the Almighty Allah, we could earn a modestly satisfactory result during the year 2008, which contributed in continuing our steady growth in respect of all major indicators, namely Deposit, Advance, Profit, etc. During the year we have concentrated our focus to a number of income increasing sectors such as SME Financing, Inward Foreign Remittance, etc. Also we have put efforts to bring discipline in administering Bank's Asset through various measures. As a whole, the outcome of these efforts was very positive and encouraging indeed.
Prudent handling of Asset-Liability is of utmost importance for keeping up profitability at a satisfactory level of any financial institution. During last few years, with the timely measures taken by the Management under guidance of the Board, it was possible to sustain steady growth through maintaining asset quality. The Bank has separate Credit Administration Department, Recovery Department and also a Task Force for continuous monitoring of difficult loans and advances of the Bank and to propose ways of recovery of Bank's dues.
This process will continue in next years also. Further, the Bank will pay attention to manage liability also so as to build up a strong deposit base to satisfy investment need of the market.
Over the last few years remittance business contributed remarkably in increasing fee based income of the Bank. In order to motivate and inspire the Bangladeshis residing abroad to send their hard earned money through legal Banking channel, we have taken a number of steps like making remittance arrangements with different money exchange companies all over the world, participating in fairs and meetings with remitters and exchange companies, etc. which brought result beyond expectation.
It is a matter of pride that the Bank has been awarded various trophies from exchange companies like MoneyGram for its initiatives in motivating people in this part of the World to avail of the opportunity of sending money through these enterprises.
We have started FRPP, a jointly funded project by DFID in partnership with Bangladesh Bank under the grant facility called Remittances and Payments Challenge Fund (RPCF) where Thangamara Mohila Sobuj Shangha (TMSS), an NGO working for empowering the womenfolk of the country is a partner. Under this project the Bank is using not less than 250 outlets of TMSS to deliver remittance to the beneficiaries where it has no Branch. We have plans to continue this project even after expiry of the RPCF, if proved feasible.
The Bank has put due emphasis on grooming up its workforce in a technology based working atmosphere for some time. Also to cater the needs of the customers, very recently we have started full-fledged real time On Line Banking System with implementation of Flora Banking UBS Software. We are also going to introduce Debit Card very soon & all necessary steps have already been taken in this connection.
Bank's Information Technology Division is always engaged in designing need based softwares and other programmers to ease the situation for the employees so as to enable them to work more dedicatedly to satisfy the customers.
Of late financing in SMEs has been proven to be very beneficial for banking sector. Banks have paid special focus to this sector to expand scopes of extending credit facilities to enhance sustainable profit. SME has been found to be a very potential avenue of financing, since it is believed that small and medium entrepreneurs are very hard working and sincere in paying back Bank's money. Banks are optimistic that investing in this sector would not entail huge volume of default loan like conventional or cooperate financing.
We have given due attention in SME financing and set up separate SME Wing to extend credit and management thereof. It is hoped that an encouraging outcome will be seen very soon in this regard.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Our Bank is always aware of its social responsibility and consciously put its efforts to discharge this responsibility. Our last few years' activities speak for us. For effective discharge of our CSR, NCC Bank Foundation was established a few years back. Under the banner of this foundation, we have continued our social works, details have been incorporated in the attached "Directors' Report".
Corporate Management: The Bank maintains transparency in its entire works. All decision of the Management comes through discussions in appropriate forum and required follow-ups are also made to see their effectiveness. To train up the fresh appointees, the Bank undertakes various training programmers in its Training Institute. Further, training are arranged for making other officers acquainted with changing atmosphere of the sector so as to enable them to be on the race. The Bank is always concerned to keep up its good image through various promotional measures.
I take this opportunity to place my sincere thanks and gratitude to the Government of Peoples' Republic of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Bank, Securities and Exchange Commission, different Government Agencies, Regulatory Bodies, Stakeholders, Patrons, Valued Clients and Members of the Board for their continued support, guidance & cooperation.
I would also like to record my thanks to the employees of the Bank for their devoted services for the growth of the Bank.
Alhaj Md. Nurun Newaz
Chairman