The New Nation - Internet Edition

NATION BUSINESS REPORT

The City Bank Limited focuses on 'small and medium entrepreneurs and retail banking to widen its client base,' said K Mahmood Sattar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank.

'We also put emphasis on corporate, investment, treasury and market risks banking services,' he added. 'We have restructured our core business into these four segments. The main objective behind this restructuring was simply to bring in "specialisation" in the way we deal with and serve different customer groups.'

The City Bank's current business model encourages and supports its growth in retail and SME banking, he said, adding that 'the bank is very much on its way to opening a large number of independent SME centres across the country within a short time.'

Retail banking services of the bank include deposit, loan, debit card, credit card and remittance, while SME banking services are offered in packages styled City Muldhan, City Sheba and City Shulov.

Corporate banking services include working capital finance, trade finance, short/mid-term finance, Islamic finance, structured finance, cash management, and investment banking.

Treasury banking services include overnight deposits, term deposits, foreign exchange, local currency spot and forward and derivatives.

The bank, which is celebrating its 25th year of operations this year, launched a new logo and a pay-off line in July. 'Launching of the new logo and the pay-off line of the bank is a message about the modernisation process the financial institution has been undergoing,' said Sattar.

City Bank currently has 83 online branches spread across the country that include a fully-fledged Islami banking branch. It has 25 ATMs of its own and ATM-sharing arrangement with a partner bank that has 225 ATMs in place.

City Bank earned a net profit of Tk 34.35 crore in 2006-07 against previous year's Tk 24-crore net profit, according to the DSE official website.

As per un-audited half yearly accounts, as on June 30, 2008, the bank achieved a profit after tax of Tk 21.94 crore as against last year's Tk 33.95-crore half yearly post-tax profit. The net turnover in the period was Tk 150.95 crore.

City Bank is one of the oldest private commercial banks operating in Bangladesh. The bank started its journey on March 27, 1983 through opening its first branch at BB Avenue in Dhaka. The bank was listed with the Dhaka Stock Exchange on February 18 in 1986. It is also listed with the Chittagong Stock Exchange.