Corporate Social

Responsibilities
of EXIM Bank
Royal University of Dhaka
Introduction to Business
BUS 101

Submitted by
Farjana Jebin
ID: 4044


Abstract

Social responsibility is a concept well known in the corporate world and
beyond that. All over the world have practiced only profit making actions
at past but not for long as the enterprise started to develop complexities
and wideness in size and actions so was their reach getting bigger and
bigger. As every person has his own social responsibilities towards the
society so does the business firms. The idea is that, the business has social
obligations and above and beyond making a profit that is corporate social
responsibility. However, it is regretful that though internationally it is
being practiced widely, Bangladesh is still lagging behind. The difference
between the world standard and the practice in Bangladesh shows the
lacking here and the scope for development. This report has been
prepared as a requirement of the Project work. The report was based upon
the CSR practices of different banks in Bangladesh. CSR is a means of
discussing the extent of any obligations a business has to its immediate
society; a way of proposing policy ideas on how those obligations can be
met; as well as a tool by which the benefits to a business for meeting those
obligations can be identified.
This paper explores how private commercial banks practices Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) in Bangladesh in conserved the case of EXIM
Bank. In keeping with global movement, CSR is being seen as the source
of new competition edge for the ban Sectors of Bangladesh.



Introduction
Corporate Social Responsibility is not only an act for humanity but also to
provide good working environment to an organizations employees, to
pay just remuneration, to give regular leave, to care as a human beings
and to care environment of the society. Business organizations in the
society are accountable to implement different socially desirable activities
not only for stakeholders concern but also for different external parties.
CSR reporting can be a significant part in the financial reporting while it
provides information to different stakeholders and as an additional part
social report would provide information relating to whole environmental
concern to society. The system of providing information may vary from
company to company, country to country but the common media of
providing information is financial statement. However, there does not exist
a universally accepted theoretical framework for corporate social and
environmental reporting. Corporate social responsibility is not the only
ethical dilemma that financial institutions face in an atmosphere of corrupt
corporate practice but also these institutions are concerned with
commitment for sustainable development but execution of such
development procedural functions through compliance with CSR
guidelines is difficult. Currently in Bangladesh, CSR is a matter of self-
interest for the corporate. There is a crying need for an in-depth study into
the quality, quantity of corporate social disclosure and identification of
areas for future improvement so that transparency can be ensured.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) reporting focuses vary by business,
by size, by sector and even by geographic region. The area of CSR
reporting is quite big and it includes all the good practices that increase
the business profitability and can preserve interest of all stakeholders.
Bangladesh is a developing country and thus compared to global
competitiveness and demand, the CSR practices and standards are being
implemented in Bangladesh poorly. We are yet go a long way and is still
lagging behind. For better and enhanced performance CSR rules and
reporting implementation is thus now need, not merely demand.

Objectives of the Study
The main objectives of the studies is to examine current status of
prevailing laws/rules and how far these are being implemented and
reported in the annual report of Banks in Bangladesh with major focus on
EXIM Bank CSR activities. Besides this, the objectives regarding this paper
are to find out the scenario regarding the CSR practice in the banking
sector of Bangladesh with major focus on EXIM Bank. And other objectives
are also:
To throw light on the concept of CSR.
To find out CSR practice of banking sector in Bangladesh with major
focus with major focus on Bangladesh Krishi Bank
To recommend some necessary steps to boost CSR activities and
their reporting.

Methodology
The study is exclusively a descriptive research on corporate social
reporting practices of EXIM Bank based on a small sample size. Thus, the
study is purely based on the information from secondary data sources. The
data collected for the purpose of the study involves the examination of
annual reports for the year 2013 of EXIM Bank. In order to understand CSR
disclosure by banking companies, annual reports are considered
appropriate documents for analysis. Annual reports are a common and
popular means of communication to stakeholders and they command the
actual situation of the company. To analyze the extent of social
responsibility reporting by Bangladeshi Banking companies, annual
reports constituted the main primary source. Guthrie and Parker (1990),
Gray, Owen and Adams (1996), Deegan and Rankin (1997) and other
scholars studied corporate social reporting practices using annual reports
as the key source of information. Additionally, it is documented that
annual report is the most widespread and accepted document for
corporate communication with different parties in Bangladesh.

Description
Corporate Social Responsibility at a glance
Definitely social responsibility includes the responsibility of social people,
groups, societies, and business organization. Here raises the question: why
is there more interest in, and debate about the social responsibility of
business than about the social responsibility of the other institutions? It is
of course legitimate to raise the issue of social responsibility of business.
But we hear rather less about the social responsibility of, say, the churches,
the media, trade unions, the professions, universities, or even the
government. When people collectively organize themselves in
organizations of one kind or another, do those impersonal legal entities
really acquire social responsibilities, which differ from those of other
collective entities? Many people are uneasy about the profit motive,
suspecting that profits emerge only from exploitation. They fear that free
enterprise encourages greed and selfishness. They are reluctant to accept
the logic of Adam Smiths famous theory of invisible hand, which holds
that business people the general interest more effectively by pursuing
their own interests than by directly trying to do good. I suggest that, this
is why we are here little about the social responsibilities of churches,
charities and so on. Business, in contrast, is assumed to have a problem
about its social responsibilities because it is driven by profit-motives. So it
can be said that, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) means that
companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business
operations and in their interaction with business relevant groups on a
voluntary basis.



Findings
Overview of EXIM Bank
Export Import Bank of Bangladesh Limited was established in the year
1999 under the leadership of Late Mr. Shahjahan Kabir, Founder Chairman
who had a long dream of floating a commercial bank which would
contribute to the socio-economic development of our country. He had a
long experience as a good banker. A group of highly qualified and
successful entrepreneurs joined their hands with the founder chairman to
materialize his dream. Indeed, all of them proved themselves in their
respective business as most successful star with their endeavor,
intelligence, hardworking and talent entrepreneurship. Among them, Mr.
Nazrul Islam Mazumder who is an illuminated business tycon in the
Garments business in Bangladesh became the Honorable Chairman after
the demise of the honorable founder chairman. He is also the chairman of
Bangladesh Association of Banks (BAB). Under his leadership, BAB has
emerged as an effective forum for exchanging views on problems being
faced by the banking sector of Bangladesh and for formulating common
policy guidelines in addressing such problems.
The Bank starts functioning from 3rd August, 1999 with its name as Bengal
Export Import Bank Limited. On 16th November 1999, it was renamed as
Export Import Bank of Bangladesh Limited with Mr. Alamgir Kabir as the
Founder Advisor and Mr. Mohammad Lakiotullah as the Founder
Managing Director respectively. Both of them have long experience in the
financial sector of our country. By their pragmatic decision and
management directives in the operational activities, this bank has earned
a secured and distinctive position in the banking industry in terms of
performance, growth, and excellent management. Under the leadership of
Mr. Lakiotullah, the Bank has migrated all of its conventional banking
operation into Shariah Based Islami Banking in the year July 2004.


Corporate Social Responsibilities of EXIM Bank
At least 2% of our annual profit of every year is put aside for the
foundation to conduct Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) activities.
The mainstream CSR activities that are carried out through this foundation
are:
"Female Employees' Interest Protection Policy" of EXIM
Bank.
As per the Service Rules for the Employees of EXIM Bank, 30th November
2006, Chapter IX, Section 9.1.1. Point (f) are covered disciplinary action
against any offence involving moral turpitude. In addition to that, to
encourage a healthy & cordial work environment, the following policy has
been introduced and put in effect for wellbeing of the female employees
of the bank.
Healthcare service
A 5 storied building having 10,000 sft floor space at 840 Kazi Para, Rokeya
Sarani, Mirpur, Dhaka-1216 has been hired to set up EXIM Bank Hospital.
The decoration of this hospital is going on in full swing. A doctor has been
recruited who is working as a resident director of the hospital. Other
doctors and hospital staffs have been in the process of selection through
recruitment notice already published in the national dailies. They will be
appointed as soon as the decoration of the hospital is complete.
Scholarship program for brilliant poor student
This is a stipend package for poor and meritorious students that takes care
of the beneficiaries throughout their student life. EXIM Bank Scholarship
Programme, launched in 2006 with 61 poor and meritorious students
selected from different reputed educational institutions of Dhaka City
including Govt. Laboratory High School, Viqarunnissa Noon School and
College, Dhaka University, BUET, Dhaka Medical College, etc. enrolled as
many as 1000 students from around 150 reputed educational institutions
across the country by 31 December 2008. They are enrolled in the this
programme to be taken care of for their whole educational life subject to
their fulfilment of the eligibility criteria that include satisfactory academic
results, non-involvement in student politics, financial insolvency etc. So far
Tk. 19.3 million has been disbursed as scholarship under this programme.
Education Promotion Scheme
Under Education Promotion Scheme, quard or investment without profit
is provided for poor and meritorious students to help them bear monthly
educational expenditure including academic expenses, food,
accommodation, etc. The quard is disbursed to the selected students in
monthly installments till their accomplishing the master degree. Under this
programme the students are required to repay the amount (only the
principal amount) in long-term monthly installments after they have
joined a confirmed job accomplishing their education properly. By 31
December 2008, Tk. 19.7 million was sanctioned to take care of around
138 poor and meritorious students from a number of reputed educational
institutions like Dhaka University, Chittagong University, Dhaka Medical
College, BUET, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Shahjalal University of
Science and Technology etc.
Helping people affected by natural calamities
Another vital area we are dealing with as part of our CSR activities is
helping people survive natural calamities. Under this welfare programme,
EXIM Bank provides relief in cash and kind for flood, fire or cyclone victims
and cold-stricken people. The aim of these CSR activities is to help the
target group overcome their provisional handicap and contribute to the
socio-economic growth as soon as possible.
Beautification of Dhaka City
In response to the call of the Dhaka City Corporation, EXIM Bank has been
sharing a good portion of the mammoth task of beautifying the capital
since 2005. To make the capital a modern city enriched with adequate
urban amenities, EXIM Bank always joins hands with the government.

Recommendation
After the study we have found some limitation of its CSR activities. To
overcome these limitation we have suggested several recommendations:
EXIM Bank should expended a large amount of their profit as CSR
activities. These expenditures are increase year by year.
They should practicing area of CSR mainly in education, health,
community development.
EXIM Bank should establish several primary school which is can help
our poor children.
EXIM Bank should promotes different donation program for develop
the life styles of society.


Conclusion
It can be concluded from the study that all banking organization shall have
appropriate policy in place for establishing positive organizational culture
and social responsible mindset of stakeholders. If commitment for
becoming a social responsible banking organization between
management and stakeholders and accountability and creditability can be
demonstrated through effective and efficient internal audit, customers
and community also be benefited with risk reduced and quality enhanced.
As a business partners it is need to everyone specially commercial banks
take part to reform the society. Because CSR is the more common place
among banks, there are concerns the some banks promote an image of
CSR whether or not they have true strategy in place and the results to
show. Banks like Southeast Bank Ltd. came forward to contribute to the
society. Though the contribution is limited the society but is the good
initiative by banks. EXIM Bank expended to CSR as because they believes
that accountability and transparency are key contribute business in
responsible manner.

References

Imam S, Corporate Social Performance reporting in Bangladesh,
Managerial Auditing Journal
Mused A. K.,CSR practices of private commercial banks in Bangladesh: A
comparative study MPRA pa per no. 35496 online at Young S, The Role
of Banks in Corporate Social Responsibility
Journal of Applied Economics and Business Research,( JAEBR) Vol.1 No. 2,
2011, Pp. 13-115[4]
http://www.eximbankbd.com/about/about_exim_bank
ttp://www.eximbankbd.com/about/csr