Bangladeshi entities win 21 SAFA awards

Different Bangladeshi companies and entities collectively won 21 awards at the SAFA Best Published Annual Reports Award Competition 2020.

The annual reports presented by Bangladeshi firms topped the list in 12 of the 16 categories for SAARC countries, among which some 58 awards were distributed.

The awards given by the South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) are considered the most prestigious accolade for financial reporting in countries of the South Asian region.

The SAFA represents over 375,000 accountants having membership with the national chartered accountancy, and cost and management accountancy institutions in South Asian countries, namely Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan.

Bank Asia of Bangladesh won in the overall category. Rupali Bank of Bangladesh and Pakistan's Fauji Fertiliser Company were joint first runners up. The second runner-up was Bangladesh's Shahjalal Islami Bank.

In the private sector banking institutions category, including co-operative banks, Bank Asia became the winner and Shahjalal Islami Bank was first runner-up.

In the public sector banking institutions category, Rupali Bank became the winner while Prime Insurance Co Ltd won in the insurance sector.

IDLC Finance Ltd and Bangladesh Finance Ltd became the winner and first runner-up respectively in the financial services sector.

RAK Ceramics Ltd (Bangladesh) became the joint first runner-up in the manufacturing sector while Grameenphone Ltd (Bangladesh) became the first runner-up in the communication and information technology sector.

Unique Hotels and Resorts Limited (Bangladesh) won the first runner-up award in the services sector (excluding financial services, communication and the IT sector).

Ghashful (Bangladesh) won in the non-government organisation category while Sajida Foundation (Bangladesh) became first runner-up.

In the category of Saarc Anniversary Award for Corporate Governance, Bank Asia became the winner while Shahjalal Islami Bank and Lankabangla Finance jointly become first runners-up.

In the integrated reporting category, IDLC Finance Ltd became joint winners with Sri Lanka's National Development Bank PLC.

Besides, a total of 43 certificates of merit were also distributed among the companies.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Sri Lanka virtually hosted this year's regional awards conferred by the SAFA.

Md Shahadat Hossain, president of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Bangladesh (ICAB), handed over the prizes among the winning Bangladeshi entities at a virtual ceremony held yesterday, according to a press release of the ICAB.

SAFA initiated the Saarc anniversary awards for corporate governance disclosures in 2006 and Integrated Reporting Awards in 2015.

ICAB Vice Presidents NKA Mobin and Fouzia Haque and CEO Shubhashish Bose were also present at the award distribution ceremony.