Bangladesh Bank has appointed an administrator to the troubled non-bank financial institution Aviva Finance, as part of efforts to stabilise its operations.
Hasan Tarek Khan, a director of the central bank, has been assigned the role. He will serve as both managing director and chief executive officer of the institution.
An order to this effect was sent to the chairman of Aviva Finance today (26 April). The organisation is among six financial institutions that the central bank has recently moved to shut down.
The company has a troubled history linked to controversial businessman Prashanta Kumar Halder, who served as managing director of its predecessor, Reliance Finance. At the time, the chairman was Saiful Alam of the S Alam Group. During Halder’s tenure, the institution was allegedly looted, pushing its default loan ratio to over 80%.
After Halder fled the country, the organisation was rebranded as Aviva Finance. However, it failed to recover despite the name change.
Following the interim government’s move to remove S Alam Group from several banks, Saiful Alam also stepped down from Aviva Finance. In response, Bangladesh Bank dissolved the board and later reconstituted it with four independent directors.
Currently, former Bangladesh Bank executive director Md Golam Mostafa serves as chairman. Other independent directors include HM Mosharraf Hossain, former Agrani Bank Deputy Managing Director Md Rafiqul Islam, and former Investment Corporation of Bangladesh Deputy Managing Director Abu Taher Mohammad Ahmedur Rahman.
The appointment of an administrator is seen as a further step by the central bank to address governance failures and financial irregularities within the organisation.
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