The AB Bank Foundation scam

Most people create foundations to do beneficial things. Foundations are meant to do CSR and donate. But the AB Bank Foundation is a completely different story. From what is going around the AB Bank Foundation has been involved in:

• Merchant Banking
• Supporting the parent company, AB Bank
  
• Holding as much as 18% of IFIC Bank (later reduced to ~7%) on behalf of other parties

This all may have been excusable if we had seen the money from these activities trickle down into hefty donations. But no, not a single taka was donated. So we wonder whom this foundation was created to benefit? Did we ever hear any CSR from AB Bank. We hoped of things to come when we heard about a 'foundation' only to discover

They have been penalized when Bangladesh Bank took the foundation's 7% stake (worth Tk 100 crore) from them. And asked them to seize all merchant banking activities of the foundation. Then when AB Bank Foundation ceased all their activity, it sent the Dhaka Stock Exchange crashing.

Some facts about AB Bank

• Not really a bank (anymore)
  
• More money comes from merchant banking than actual banking
• Uses highly unethical merchant banking practices
• Previously fined Taka 10 crore for violating merchant banking rules
• Needed logo change to wipe out 25 years of dismal performance
• Needed name change, now instead of being called Arab-Bangla Bank, its simply 'AB' Bank