Dutch-Bangla Bank
Dutch-Bangla Bank, founded in 1996 by a group of Bangladesh based entrepreneurs, working in cohort with the Netherlands based Development Finance Company, has always taken its responsibilities in the field of corporate social responsibility seriously.
The lender launched its first financial inclusion campaign in 2007, with the stated aim of bringing more people in rural regions into the banking sector and of boosting financial literacy across the country. A year later, it issued its inaugural standalone corporate and social responsibility report. Dutch-Bangla Bank is one of just two local lenders to implement a state-backed mobile banking system that aims to promote financial inclusion.
Its CSR mandate goes way beyond the world of banking and finance. Dutch-Bangla Bank has in recent years run campaigns to send blankets to victims of the 2015 Nepal earthquake, extended financial scholarships to more than 5,000 local students, donated Tk100 million ($1.25 million) to diabetic associations, funded campaigns to help reduce homelessness, and organized a plastic-surgery camp, which, as part of the ‘Smile Brighter’ programme, transforms the lives of hundreds of Bangladeshi children born with cleft lips and palates.