Bangladesh

The nine years since Dhaka Bank incorporated its investment banking arm have been as action-packed as its executive team could have anticipated in 2013. Indeed, Dhaka Bank, led by chief executive Emranul Huq, epitomises much of the transformation seen in Bangladesh in the last decade.

UCB Investment, a wholly owned subsidiary of commercial bank United Commercial Bank, was formed in 2011 but only received its licence to start operations as a fully fledged investment bank in October 2020. The period that followed was anything but typical, thanks to global turmoil and uncertainty. Through it all, the bank kept its cool to serve customers – and secure the Asiamoney best corporate bank award for 2022.

It is easy to be cynical about environmental, social and governance, but Green Delta Capital is all the proof sceptics need that environmentally friendly finance is a sound business proposition. Founded in 2010, the investment bank has quickly become one of the fastest growing in Bangladesh.

Eastern Bank, run by chief executive Ali Reza Iftekhar, has been a consistent presence in Asiamoney’s annual best bank awards. Over the last year, the firm went the extra mile to remind the market why.

City Bank’s chief executive Mashrur Arefin likes to think of the lender as the digital trendsetter in Bangladesh. He has a point: few institutions have harnessed the Covid-19 crisis with greater aplomb to put banking services in the hands of tens of millions of households sheltering at home.

Standard Chartered’s 117-year uninterrupted presence in Bangladesh makes for quite a sales pitch. So does being the only multinational, universal bank in an economy tipped to grow 7% in 2022, even as inflation, geopolitical turmoil and further bouts of Covid-19 cloud the outlook.

Banks tempted to protest over a non-bank winning the top digital solutions award can take solace from the way this particular fintech phenomenon is turning the heads of many of the globe’s most important financiers.

After reading all the studies he could find about the economic benefits of diversity and inclusion, Syed Mahbubur Rahman decided to do something about it. The Mutual Trust Bank chief executive endeavoured to make his bank an exemplar in Bangladesh.