Bangladeshi entities win 21 awards in SAFA competition

Bangladeshi entities have received the highest number of awards in SAFA (South Asian Federation of Accountants) Best Published Annual Report Awards, Integrated Reporting Awards & SAARC Anniversary Awards for Corporate Governance Disclosure 2020 competition.

They have received a total of 21 awards out of 58 distributed among the Saarc countries, reads a press release.

These are considered as the most prestigious accolades for financial reporting in the South Asian countries. It signifies organisations which have achieved excellence in presentation and disclosure of high quality, relevant, reliable and objective information in the financial statements in accordance with the international framework.

This year the regional awards competition was organised virtually by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka (ICASL) on 9 February where Bangladeshi winning entities virtually connected with the ceremony and received the awards from the Institute of chartered accountants of Bangladesh.

On behalf of SAFA, ICAB President Md Shahadat Hossain FCA handed over the prizes to the winners while Vice Presidents NKA Mobin FCA and Fouzia Haque FCA, CEO Shubhashish Bose were present, added the statement.

Category wise winners:

In the overall winners category Bank Asia Ltd (Bangladesh) became the winner, Rupali Bank Ltd (Bangladesh) and Fauji Fertiliser Company Limited (Pakistan) became Joint 1st runner up, and the Shahjala Islami Bank Ltd (Bangladesh) became 2nd runner up for their best performance in the regional competition.

In Private Sector Banking Institutions (including Co-operative Banks) category, Bank Asia Limited (Bangladesh) became the winner. Shahajalal Islami Bank Limited (Bangladesh) became 1st runner up and the Bank Alfalah Limited (Pakistan), and MCB Bank Limited (Pakistan) became joint 2nd runner up.

In the category of Public Sector Banking Institutions, Rupali Bank Limited became the winner, People's Bank (Sri Lanka) became 1st runner up and National Bank of Pakistan (Pakistan) became 2nd runner up.

In the Insurance Sector, Prime Insurance Co Ltd (Bangladesh) became the winner, Reliance Insurance Co Ltd (Bangladesh) became the 1st runner up and Softlogic Life Insurance PLC(Sri Lanka), Jubilee General Insurance Co Ltd ( Pakistan) and Union Assurance PLC (Sri Lanka ) became joint 2nd runner up.

In Financial Services Sector, IDLC Finance Ltd (Bangladesh) became the winner, Bangladesh Finance Ltd became 1st runner up, Alliance Finance Company PLC (Sri Lanka), Peoples Leasing & Finance PLC ( Sri Lanka ) and First Habib Modaraba ( Pakistan) became joint 2nd runner up.

In Manufacturing Sector, Fauji Fertiliser Company Limited (Pakistan) became the winner, British American Tobacco BD Co. Ltd and RAK Ceramics (Bangladesh) ltdbecame Joint 1st runner up and GSK Consumer Healthcare Pakistan Limited ( Pakistan) and Engro Polymer and Chemical Limited (Pakistan) became joint 2nd runner up.

In Communication and Information Technology Sector, Sri Lanka Telecom PLC became the winner and Grameenphone Ltd (Bangladesh) became the 1st runner up.

In Service Sector (Excluding Financial Services & Communication & IT Sector), Singer Sri Lanka Telecom PLC became the winner and Unique Hotels & Resorts Limited (Bangladesh) became the 1st runner up.

In the category of Non-Governmental Organisations (including NPOs), Ghashful (Bangladesh) became the winner, Sajida Foundation (Bangladesh) became the 1st runner up. Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing and The Citizens Foundation (Pakistan) became the joint 2nd runner up.

In Agricultural Sector, Namunkula Plantations PLC (Sri Lanka) became the winner.

In the category of SAARC Anniversary Award for Corporate Governance, Bank Asia Limited (Bangladesh) became the winner, Shahjalal Islami bank Limited (Bangladesh) and Lanka Bangla Finance (Bangladesh) became the joint 1st runner up. Softlogic Life Insurance PLC, Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC (Sri Lanka) and MCB Bank Limited (Pakistan) became the joint 2nd runner up.

In the Public Sector Entities category, Pakistan Petroleum Limited became the winner, Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (Pakistan) became the 1st runner up and Pakistan State Oil Company Limited (Pakistan) became the 2nd runner up.

In Diversified holdings category, Cresent Steel & Allied Products Limited (Pakistan) became the winner, John Keells Holding PLC (Sri Lanka) and Diesel & Motor Engineering PLC (Sri Lanka) became the joint 1st runner up.

In the category of Power & Energy, Engro Powergen Qadirpur Limited (Pakistan) and The Hub Power Company Limited (Pakistan) became the joint winner and the K-Electric Limited (Pakistan) became 1st runner up. Tata Power Company limited (India) became the 2nd runner up.

In Infrastructure & Construction category, Access Engineering PLC (Sri Lanka) became the winner and RIL Property PLC (Sri Lanka) became the 1st runner up.

Integrated Reporting category, IDLC Finance Ltd (Bangladesh) and National Development Bank PLC (Sri Lanka) became joint winner while Fauji Fertiliser Company Limited (Pakistan) became 1st runner up and LankaBangla Finance Limited (Bangladesh) and John Keells Holdings PLC (Sri Lanka) became joint 2nd runner up. Besides, a total of 43 certificate of merit awards were also distributed among organisations.

SAFA has been organising Best Presented Annual Report Awards since 1997 in various categories including Banking Sector, Financial Services Sector, Communication & Information Technology Sector, NGO& NPO Sector and alike. In addition, SAFA has also initiated SAARC Anniversary Awards for Corporate Governance Disclosures since 2006 and Integrated Reporting Awards since 2015.

The Committee for Improvement in Transparency, Accountability and Governance (ITAG) had number of meetings to finalize the winners of SAFA Best Presented Annual Report Awards, Integrated Reporting Awards & SAARC Anniversary Awards for Corporate Governance Competition 2020. After a series of meetings, the two days Conference Marking Session was held from December 20 to 23 December 2021 via VC whereat the winners were decided.