The bank's new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Syed Abu Naser Bakhtear Ahmed along with three other staff of the eight-member management team joined their duties yesterday and immediately sought co-operation of all including union activists of the bank for meeting the target.

"If we can bring down the default loan by ten percent each year, it can be reduced to under five percent at the end of three years. It's not unrealistic," Bakhtear told The Daily Star yesterday.

The government has tasked the management with reducing the classified loans to below 5 percent in conformity with international standards.

Bakhtear said they would initially try to recover the classified loans through negotiations with defaulters.

He received his appointment letter after an agreement with the PriceWaterhouse Coopers on September 25 on appointment of a private management team to Agrani Bank. He was the president and managing director of Southeast Bank Limited before his new assignment.

The CEO also assured the bank staff that no jobs would be axed and told them that the terms of reference that the government gave them do not mandate the private management to privatise the bank.

Bakhtear, however, said branches of the bank that are in the red would be shut down in line with a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed with Bangladesh Bank.

Earlier on the day, the Collective Bargaining Agents (CBA) and the Agrani Bank Officers' Association demonstrated on the premises of the bank's headquarters at Motijheel before the CEO took over. Later, they met the CEO with their four-point demand.

The CBA and association leaders demanded that no jobs can be axed and no loss-making branches closed down. They also asked of the management that the bank cannot be privatised and an inquiry committee be formed to probe the huge defaulted loans of the bank.

They observed that the defaulters were provided with fresh loans through rescheduling of their previous defaulted loans. The new management should expose those who rescheduled the loans through the probe and bring them to justice.

The CEO held a meeting with the top officials of the bank and the leaders of the CBA and the officers' association. The leaders asked him to clarify the private management's position on their demands.

He told them that the private management has nothing to do with the bank's privatisation and that it depends entirely on the government.

On closure of branches, Bakhtear said each Agrani Bank branch has 14 staff on average and his earlier bank, Southeast Bank Limited, has 20 staff. It means the bank has no excess manpower and there is no question of retrenchment.

He however said the management will keep an eye on the performance of the staff.

The bank will have a participatory management approach in taking new decisions. The management will hold monthly meetings where CBA and officers' association leaders will be invited. The decisions reached at the meetings will be sent to the board of directors for approval and then to the finance ministry for final nod, the CEO said.

On formation of probe body, he told The Daily Star that there is no point digging into the past because unpleasant facts will surface. "We need to look forward," he observed.

The union leaders called off their agitation programme after the meeting with the bank management. The Left Front also demonstrated in front of the bank's head office against the takeover by a private management.

Samir Ahmed (treasury functions), Shahadat Hossain (accounts) and Faruk Uddin (internal audit) joined the bank yesterday.