Bangladesh Finance wishes to be the best financial institution in 3 years: Kyser Hamid

As they will celebrate their Silver Jubilee after three years, Bangladesh Finance wants to be the best financial institution in the country, said Md Kyser Hamid, the Managing Director and CEO of the organisation.

Last Wednesday (December 22), Bangladesh Finance commemorated their 22nd founding anniversary. Hamid expressed his ambition during an interview over phone with the Business Insider Bangladesh on Thursday.

He also talked about his future plans, too.

“When we will celebrate our 25th founding anniversary, we are hopeful that the size of the balance sheet will be between Tk 7,500 crore to Tk 8,000 crore,” said Hamid.

“We are working towards that goal,” he added.

As he dwelt on Bangladesh Finance’s some of the accomplishments, he said all but a few of the 35 NBFIs had performed poorly, eroding people’s confidence in them. “Bangladesh Finance has successfully come out of that and has been able to gain the trust of the people. This is our great achievement.”

The financial entrepreneur said his company created a distinct trait. “We have launched Strong Brand Visibility, Transformation, New Logo and Islamic Wing. We are the first listed financial institution to have a conventional business as well as an Islamic wing,” he explained.

With this, Bangladesh Finance is competent to attract another swarm of clients who believe in Shariah based transactions.

“Our credit rating has come to ‘AA’. All but four or five have been ‘A’. In the case of corporate governance, we have been rendered accolades by two organisations. Bangladesh Finance has made its way into the top three. I think it’s a great achievement,” the MD-cum-CEO told Business Insider Bangladesh.

He said: “At this moment, we are raising funds of around Tk 2,000 crore from the market with bonds, preference shares and foreign funds.”

This is a new business for Bangladesh Finance. Structural Finance, Corporate Advisory, Issue Management, Trustee Business are some new ideas for his company to thrive, he pointed out.

“We are working on a $20 million green bond. The kind of focus and image that we are working on regarding SMEs and retail is not done by anyone other than two or three companies. Of the disbursements, we have done in the last one-year-and-a-half, 84 percent have been in retail, and genuine SMEs,” Hamid added.

He said they are doing small business with technology through a collaboration model, which no one has started yet. Where they do not have a branch or representative, they provide digital lending.

“During the last 18 months, we have come up with some new products where others have been sitting idle or have fallen behind in business,” he said.

Another unique product of theirs, he said, is the pension scheme. “We have taken this initiative keeping in mind that there is no pension in the private sector.”

Hamid confidently said, “Where most of the NBFIs are making losses, we are growing. I can tell you a complete opposite situation. Once our bank borrowing was about 65 percent. This was an identical situation for most of the NBFIs. Everyone takes loans from banks and distributes it among the customers. We got out of there and now we have cut bank borrowing to 35 percent. We will bring it to 15 percent by next year.”

He said his company from next month will introduce DPS with a monthly installment of only Tk 100/200 through ‘Nagad’app. Here, not physical interaction is needed. It will be done completely digitally.

“I hope we will get some ½ lakh accounts from here every month,” Hamid said.

Regarding the contribution of Bangladesh Finance in the capital market, he said, they have two subsidiaries in the capital market--- a merchant bank, and a brokerage house.

“Here we will start two more categories of businesses, a kind of a complete departmental store for the capital market. All services relating to the capital market will be provided from there,” he hoped.

It is worth citing here that on December 22, 1999, the company received an official license under the name of Bangladesh Finance and Investment Company Limited. Later, on April 4, 2021, Bangladesh Finance Limited was re-branded with the slogan ‘Ekhoni Shomoy’.

A number of responsive products including ‘Bijoy’ for women entrepreneurs, pension scheme ‘Bangladesh Finance Retirement Plan’ for private sector employees have made Bangladesh Finance unique in the world of financial institutions.