Sonali Bank Limited (Bengali: সোনালী বà§à¦¯à¦¾à¦‚ক লিমিটেড) is a state-owned leading commercial bank in Bangladesh. It is the largest bank of the country.
History
Sonali Bank was established in 1972 under the Bangladesh Banks (Nationalisation) Order, through the amalgamation and nationalisation of the branches of National Bank of Pakistan, Bank of Bahawalpur and Premier Bank branches located in East Pakistan until the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. When it was established, Sonali Bank had a paid up capital of 30 million taka. In 2001, its authorised and paid up capital were Tk 10 billion and Tk 3.272 billion respectively. Presently, its authorised and paid up capital is Tk 10 billion and Tk 9 billion respectively The bank's reserve funds were Tk 60 million in 1979 and Tk 2.050 billion on 30 June 2000. In 2013, $250,000 was stolen from the bank by Cyber criminals using the Swift International payments network. In 2016 the Bank signed an Memorandum of Understanding with PayPal.
Branches
Sonali Bank has a total of 1211 branches. Out of them, 343 are located in urban areas, 862 in rural areas, and 2 are located overseas. It also operates the Sonali Exchange Company Inc. in USA and Sonali Bank (UK) Ltd., United Kingdom, to facilitate foreign exchange remittances. Sonali Bank UK remits up to 14 destinations across Bangladesh directly, these include Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Moulvibazar, Beanibazar, Balaganj, Biswanath, Jagannathpur, Sunamganj, Gopalganj, Nabigonj, Hobigonj, Kulaura or Tajpur. There are currently three branches in the UK, one located in Osborn Street, London, another in Small Heath; Birmingham and in Manchester.
References
External links
- Official website