Picture this: a quiet sunny weekend morning in Dhaka, the city buzzing with its usual rhythm, and inside a sleek office on Gulshan Avenue, City Bank Chairman Hossain Khaled is talking about the future—not just of his bank, but of how Bangladeshis will live, work, and spend in the years ahead.
He doesn’t begin with balance sheets or profit margins. Instead, his eyes light up when he speaks about a digital-first world where opening an account, signing a cheque, or managing trade documents happens with a swipe on your phone rather than a trip to the branch.
Banking Without Boundaries
For Khaled, banking is no longer about counters and cash slips; it’s about creating an ecosystem that feels as effortless as ordering tea at your favorite café.
He describes the bank’s journey into digitisation with the kind of excitement usually reserved for unveiling a new gadget, weaving in stories of apps, e-KYC, and corporate clients who now sign off payments while traveling abroad. It’s a vision that blends technology with lifestyle, aiming to make banking invisible—something that works seamlessly in the background while people get on with their lives.
At the heart of this shift is a profound realization: "Money doesn’t have to be paper notes; money can be digital." This mindset transition, moving from physical currency to digital empowerment, is the engine driving the bank’s tangible financial outcomes.
Focus on Human Capital
At City Bank, profit is treated as a strategic fuel for future innovation rather than a terminal metric of success. The ability to generate robust returns is what provides the bank with the sovereign capacity to reinvest in high-tier infrastructure, advanced digital ecosystems, and, most importantly, human capital.
The bank’s competitive edge is sharpened by its sophisticated cost-of-fund management and a deliberate approach to cost optimisation. While many institutions respond to economic pressure with blanket austerity, City Bank’s leadership says it has avoided trimming minor administrative expenses in favour of sustained investment in staff training and technology.
The philosophy, as articulated by its chairman, is that empowered employees and modern systems deliver stronger long-term returns than short-term savings on overheads.
Achieving Growth
Against All Odds
That strategy appears to be reflected in its financial performance. According to the bank’s third-quarter earnings disclosure for 2025, published on 3 November last year, interest income rose 23.7% year-on-year to Tk 4,026 crore. The growth came despite a tightening macroeconomic environment and a rise in the cost of deposits by 135 basis points.
Deposits increased by more than 23% year-on-year to Tk 63,456 crore in the third quarter of 2025. Bank officials say innovative deposit mobilisation strategies helped offset liquidity pressures in the wider financial system.
The rise in deposits also allowed the bank to channel excess liquidity into high-yielding government securities. As a result, investment income recorded a 172% increase in the third quarter of 2025, reaching Tk 2,775 crore compared with Tk 1,020 crore in the same period a year earlier.
The loan portfolio showed broad-based expansion. In the third quarter of 2025, retail banking grew 24%, wholesale banking 17%, and the small and microfinance segments 14%. Agent banking expanded by 11%, cards by 9%, and medium-sized enterprise segments by 6%, reflecting diversified growth across customer categories.
Banking Goes Digital
Digital banking has become a central pillar of this expansion. Transaction volume through the bank’s citytouch app exceeded Tk 90,800 crore in the three months to September 2025, marking a 37% year-on-year increase. Around 25 million transactions were processed during that period.
The number of users on the app rose by 31% compared with the same quarter the previous year, underlining the rapid adoption of mobile banking services. For many customers, particularly younger urban users and small businesses, the app has become the primary interface with the bank.
City Bank’s digital nano-loan product has also gained traction. As of October 24 last year, the bank had disbursed Tk 4,300 crore through one crore loan accounts. The micro-ticket lending model, delivered through digital channels, is designed to provide quick access to small amounts of credit, often without the paperwork associated with traditional banking.
Operational Efficiency Pays Off
Treasury management has also been modernised. The bank has introduced a Maker-Checker-Approver system that automates cheque signatures and payment approvals. With built-in signatory mapping, payments can be authorised remotely, allowing corporate clients to manage finances from abroad or while travelling.
For Chairman Khaled, such innovations are about more than operational efficiency. He argues they offer freedom—untethering financial decision-making from physical locations. In a country where traffic congestion and time constraints often hamper business operations, the ability to approve transactions remotely represents a practical shift in how commerce is conducted.
Behind the technological push lies a clear financial trajectory. In 2024, City Bank reported profits of Tk 1,000 crore, with projections indicating that profits could reach Tk 1,300 crore in 2025. Operating profits, according to the chairman, have risen from Tk 1,000 crore to nearly Tk 3,000 crore in recent years, signalling stronger core income generation.
Khaled attributes the performance to disciplined funding strategies and a focus on high-quality customers. He has described money as a commodity, suggesting that careful pricing of funds and selective lending are essential in a volatile interest rate environment.
Sectoral Crisis Takes Its Toll
Yet the chairman is candid about the challenges facing Bangladesh’s banking sector. Liquidity constraints, rising non-performing loans, and structural imbalances in the capital market remain significant concerns. He has argued that banks often rely on short-term deposits to finance long-term projects, creating maturity mismatches that can strain balance sheets.
Bangladesh’s impending graduation from least developed country (LDC) status is another area of concern. Khaled has warned that the transition could produce a “massive shock” unless cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises (CMSMEs)—which account for more than 60% of employment—are made more efficient and competitive.
He has called for policy measures to strengthen the equity market, provide seed funding for innovation, and expand financial inclusion. A fully digital economy, he suggests, would broaden the tax base and integrate unbanked populations into the formal financial system.
City: A Sustainable Bank
Sustainability is another strand of the bank’s strategy. Bangladesh Bank honoured 12 banks and non-bank financial institutions in its 2024 sustainable rating list, published for the first time, and City Bank has appeared on the list for five consecutive years. The bank says future infrastructure will prioritise solar energy, rainwater harvesting and energy efficiency. It also supports clients in meeting environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards, including helping small factories establish Effluent Treatment Plants and promoting sustainable agriculture.
In Dhaka, the bank is developing the “City Bank Campus” on Gulshan Avenue, which will house more than half of its Dhaka-based staff currently spread across rented offices. Khaled has stressed transparency, saying the bank paid taxes and registration fees on the full transaction value of the land.
The chairman has also outlined plans for the City Credit Bureau, approved alongside three other organisations. The bureau would create comprehensive credit profiles by tracking financial histories—from utility payments to nano-loans—using data shared by telecom operators, utilities and financial institutions. Supporters say it could widen access to credit, though strong data protection and regulatory oversight will be essential as digitisation deepens.
City Bank’s leadership says collaboration with global partners, including the International Finance Corporation (IFC), will help strengthen governance and align with international standards. Over the next 25 years, Khaled envisions the bank as a global platform rooted in trust and accountability, positioning it to grow sustainably in a changing economic landscape.
Written by Khondoker Md Shoyeb
