Renowned banker Anwarul Amin passes away

Renowned banker Anwarul Amin died early on Tuesday in the capital. He was 88.

He breathed his last around 4am at his Gulshan residence, family members said.

Amin was buried at the Banani graveyard after his namaz-e-janaza at the Gulshan Azad mosque.

He left behind a son, a daughter, grandchildren and a host of friends and relatives to mourn his death.

Amin was a well-known banker and chairman of the board of trustees of IMPACT Foundation Bangladesh.

Graduating from Westminster Bank Institute of Banking in England, a 21-year-old Amin returned to East Pakistan in 1955 to start a career with the Muslim Commercial Bank.

Even while working at the National Bank of Pakistan and the Industrial Development Bank of Pakistan, Amin secretly sought to work for a Bengali-owned bank. In 1965, he joined the newly established Eastern Banking Corporation.

 Soon after, he was put in charge of the key portfolios of planning and development, audit and inspection, and correspondent banking.

After Bangladesh's independence, Amin succeeded to secure the then British government's approval for transferring ownership of Eastern Banking Corporation's London branch to the Bangladesh government.

Later, the Eastern Banking Corporation's London branch was renamed as Uttara Bank. It was the first foreign branch of any bank of Bangladesh, inaugurated on 30 March, 1972.

Amin wrote an auto-biography titled "Bidheshe Prothom Bangladeshi Banker Shakha Kholar Nepottho Kahini" published in 2021.

The book recounts Amin's journey as a young, Bengali banker starting in the Pakistan era and transitioned into the non-cooperation movement of the shadow Awami League government that ignited the 1971 War of Independence and the ensuing challenges of nation building.

His daughter Aasha Mehreen Amin is working as the joint editor of The Daily Star.