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Standard Chartered Grindlays Bank Limited formed on 1 August 2000 with the branches of ANZ Grindlays Bank Limited in Bangladesh following the purchase of the Global Grindlays Business by the London based Standard Chartered Bank PLC, an announcement by the former to this effect, and the permission by the bangladesh bank issued on 27 April 2000. The Grindlays Bank Plc was registered in London on the 23 March 1866 as a multinational commercial and merchant banking company under the British Companies Act of 1862. The bank's operations in East Bengal started under the name National Bank of India in 1905 with a branch at sadarghat, Dhaka and another one in Chittagong. The bank's operations remained suspended during the war of liberation. It resumed business in Bangladesh in a new name National and Grindlays Bank. The ANZ Group (Australia and New Zealand) bought the global banking business of Grindlays Bank plc. in 1985 and the transfer of ownership has been completed in 1989, when the National and Grindlays Bank was further renamed as ANZ Grindlays Bank Plc. On 31 December 2000, the Standard Chartered Grindlays Bank had 10 branches in Bangladesh. It launched electronic banking including Automated Teller Machine (ATM) services to provide 24-hour banking facilities in the country. It also introduced credit card and a sophisticated system of contacting and serving its corporate customers. The country general manager is the bank's chief executive officer appointed by the head office in London. On 31 June 2000, the bank's capital and reserves in Bangladesh stood at Tk 1,894.3 million. The value of assets excluding off-balance-sheet items was Tk 27,340.2 million in December 2000. Investments other than loans and advances of the bank were in government securities, prize bonds, ordinary shares of investment corporation of bangladesh and Central Depository Bangladesh Limited, a company that services the country's capital markets. The off-balance-sheet items were valued at Tk 13,903.85 million. Loans and advances of the bank were mostly in medium, large and small scale industries, exports and import financing, housing, working capital and trade and commerce. Interest rate charged by the bank on its various types of lending ranged from 8% to 17.5%. A portion of the bank's lending assets became classified as they were non-performing. The bank maintained a compulsory provision for those classified loans and provisioning amounted to Tk 486.50 million in 2000. Total deposits at the bank in traditional fixed, savings, current and contingency accounts on 31 December 1990 were Tk 3,382.14 million, which rose to Tk 25,414.27 million in 2000. Interest rates offered by the bank on the various types of deposits ranged between 4.5% and 7.5%. Foreign exchange business handled by the bank in 2000 accounted for Tk 29,778 million (provisional) in export servicing, import financing and remittance facilities. The bank has correspondent relationships with at least 1,250 banks or other financial institutions throughout the world. The bank deposited Tk 5,667.77 million with other banks and financial institutions in 2000 both in local and foreign currencies. That year the net profit of the bank was Tk 588.27 million.
Bangladesh operations of Standard Chartered Grindlays
Bank has merged with Standard Chartered Bank on 1 January 2003, since
when the combined bank has become known as Standard Chartered Bank. [S
M Mahfuzur Rahman]
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