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Sunday 22 Dec 2024
LOCAL EDITION
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LOCAL EDITION
Ahmed Ali Habeeb (CR) poses for a picture with other members of BML's board. (Photo/BML)
Ahmed Ali Habeeb, who served as the cabinet secretary at the President’s Office, has been appointed as the new chairperson of the Bank of Maldives (BML).
In an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) held on Saturday, the BML appointed Habeeb and two others to the bank’s board.
The others are:
All three were nominated to the board by the government, which holds a majority of shares at the national bank.
The BML said that Habeeb was appointed as the bank’s chairperson in a board meeting held after the EGM.
With the new appointments, the bank’s board now has nine directors. This includes six directors nominated by the government and three elected by public shareholders.
The government-nominated directors appointed to the board are:
The three directors elected by public shareholders are:
Prior to his appointment to the President’s Office on November 17, 2023, the bank’s new chairperson Habeeb served as a general manager at Apollo Holdings Pvt. Ltd. from January 15, 2006 to November 16, 2023.
He also served as a board director at the Housing Development Corporation (HDC) between April 2012 and February 2019.
Habeeb also serves on the board of three private companies; Megaton Pvt. Ltd., Cocobolo Maldives Pvt. Ltd., and The Exquisite Holidays Pvt. Ltd.
He is also a member of the UK Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).
BML’s EGM was called by the Finance Ministry after the bank drew public backlash and the government’s ire on August 25 after it suspended foreign transactions on MVR cards, citing a severe US dollar crunch. It suspended foreign transactions for existing debit cards, as well as new debit and credit cards linked to MVR accounts. It also lowered the monthly limit for standard and gold credit cards to USD 100.
But the bank reversed the decision within hours, a move it said was based on instructions from the central bank, Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA).
Government officials, including President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu, have accused the opposition of being behind the card limit changes, terming it as an attempt to stage a “financial coup.”
The incident is now a subject of a criminal investigation by the police.
The bank’s board has seen a number of changes in the aftermath. This includes the resignations of CEO Karl Stumke, Aishath Sajny, and Deputy CEO Aishath Noordeen. Despite her resignation from the board, Aishath Noordeen, who has been working at the bank for 42 years, retains her position as Deputy CEO and is serving as Acting CEO until a new one is appointed.
