Uttara Finance chairman, MD among four directors resign

Uttara Finance's chairman, managing director and two other directors have resigned simultaneously.

The directors who resigned are Uttara Finance Chairman and former NRBC Bank Managing Director Md Mukhtar Hossain; independent director and former Bangladesh Bank Executive Director Md Niamul Kabir; and another independent director, Md Rafiqul Islam FCS. Managing Director Md Wali Ullah has also resigned.

In February this year, Bangladesh Bank reconstituted Uttara Finance's board with five members, comprising four independent directors and the CFO of Uttara Group.

Wali Ullah joined the company as managing director in January 2025. Following the resignations, only two directors remain on the board. One of them is independent director Mohammad Shafiul Azam. The other is Uttara Group CFO and director Mahbub Alam FCMA.

The central bank dissolved Uttara Finance's board in 2022 over allegations of various irregularities, including using depositors' money for personal purposes instead of depositing it into the company's accounts.

On 28 December that year, five directors associated with the company's principal sponsor, Uttara Group, were removed. They were then-chairman Rashedul Hasan; Uttara Group Chairman and the company's vice chairman Matiur Rahman; his brother and director Mujibur Rahman; and members of the Uttara family and company directors Zakia Rahman and Naimur Rahman.

An inspection by Bangladesh Bank, based on Uttara Finance's audited financial statements for 2019, uncovered irregularities amounting to at least Tk3,440 crore. These included using depositors' money for personal purposes instead of depositing it into the company's accounts, illegally using call money funds for personal purposes, withdrawing funds irregularly under the guise of advances and prepayments, and extending loans against fake fixed deposit receipts (FDRs).