Two ICD representatives appointed to Amana Bank board

Amana Bank has recently appointed Adeeb Ahmad and Mohammed Ataur Rahman Chowdhury to the bank’s board of directors as representatives of its principal shareholder IB Growth Fund (Labuan) Llp,owned by the Islamic Corporation for the Development of the Private Sector (ICD) which is a subsidiary of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).

The IDB Group, which collectively holds 29.97 percent shareholding of the bank, is a ‘AAA’ rated multilateral development financial institution with an authorised capital of over US$150 billion and has a membership of 57 countries. Both newly appointed directors will serve the board in the capacity of non-executive non independent directors.

Commenting on the appointment the bank’s Chairman Osman Kassim said: “We are truly grateful for the IDB Group to have two of their stalwarts represented in our board of directors. Their collective experience will be of great value for the bank in its journey forward.”

Adeeb Ahmad counts 29 years of experience across banking functions and specialises in direct investments, investment banking, corporate finance and advisory, capital markets, asset management and Islamic finance across various countries. He is currently posted as the Senior Advisor to the CEO and Acting Director of ICD which also is the private sector arm of the IDB Group. His experience covers Islamic finance and investment banking in reputed international financial institutions in the GCC and Pakistan such as ANZ Grindlays Bank and ABN AMRO Bank in Bahrain, Citibank and MCB in Pakistan. Furthermore, he has advised on and arranged Islamic debt issuance, equity raising and M and As for several leading institutions across various countries. Ahmad holds a Masters of Science in Accounting and Finance from the London School of Economics, UK and a MBA from the Institute of Business Administration, Karachi, Pakistan.

Ataur Rahman Chowdhury has a wide experience across banking and financial institutions, including investment banking, banking and institutional equities, direct investment and finance. Currently he is also attached to the ICD as the Senior Investment Manager focusing on banking equities across important member countries aggregating a portfolio of nearly US$250 million. Chowdhury has worked across multiple geographies and holds a MBA in finance from IE Business School, Spain and a MBA in Finance and Accounts from the North South University, Bangladesh.

With the two new appointments, the IDB Group will have three representatives in the board of Amana Bank, which includes Haseeb Ullah Siddiqui, who is already serving the board in the capacity of a Non-executive Non Independent Director. The three IDB representatives along with Osman Kassim (Chairman), Tyeab Akbarally (Deputy chairman and non-executive, non-independent director), Jazri Magdon Ismail (Non-executive, independent director), Wahid Ali (Nonexecutive, non-independent director representative of Bank Islam Malaysia), Harsha Amarasekera PC (Non-executive, non-independent director), Rajiv Nandlal Dvivedi (Non-executive, independent director), Dilshan Hettiaratchi (Nonexecutive, independent director) and Aaron Russell-davison (Non-executive, independent director) form the board of directors of the bank.