Saudi Prince empowers Rupali Bank for fresh recruitment

Against the backdrop of long delay of handing over of the Rupali Bank, the Saudi buyer empowered the present authority to appoint manpower for the smooth running of day-to-day activities.

“He commanded me to empower you with the knowledge and full consent of the Finance Ministry to engage whatever staff you may require on a temporary basis to ensure the continued smooth running of the existing banking operation,” Sir Frank Peters, Senior Adviser of Saudi Prince Bandar Bin Mohamed said in a letter addressed to Managing Director of the Rupali Bank Mohd Abdul Mia last week.

However, senior bankers have expressed doubt if the ‘designated buyer’ has the right to empower or instruct the authority before handing over of the Rupali Bank.

The letter, also sent to the chairman of the privatisation commission, said, “It is the expressed wish of Prince Bandar that the business of Rupali Bank proceeds uninterrupted and the depositors are not inconvenient in any way due to his taking over of the bank which is imminent.”

Handing over of the sate owned Rupali Bank to the Saudi Prince became uncertain, as he was not for a long time. The privatisation commission as well as the Ministry of Finance has long been contacting the Saudi buyer to takeover the bank.

Sources said prince Bandar Bin Mohamed Abdulrahman Al-Saud was not responding to the bank authority due to non-settlement of some outstanding issues.
Sources further said the government is found it hard to resolve certain issues that were raised soon after the signing of the draft Sale and Purchase Agreement by the Prince's team of negotiators. Some of the issues were related to fiscal concessions and repatriation of the earnings of the expatriates to be employed by the bank's would-be owner.

The issues involved could be the usual tactics on the part of the potential buyer to exact the maximum possible concessions from the seller.

So far as fiscal concessions are concerned, the Prince wants the government to exempt the earnings of the 300 foreign nationals he would be appointing after the takeover of the bank from income tax. Besides, he seeks to import vehicles and helicopters duty-free.

In addition to tax exemption, the Prince wants the government to allow the employees to repatriate 90 per cent of their monthly salaries.

On the other hand, delay in handing over of ownership of Rupali Bank has already pushed its share price down in the capital markets amid selling pressure by the investors. The share price of the bank fell by more than 6.0 per cent during this period in the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), sources said.