Chairman of the Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA), M Aslam Alam, has resigned from his post, citing personal reasons.
IDRA spokesperson Saifunnahar confirmed that Alam formally submitted his resignation on Monday (2 March), although he had announced his intention to step down at a meeting around two weeks earlier.
Alam was appointed chairman of IDRA in September 2024 by the interim government for a three-year term.
According to the official notification at the time, he was appointed on a contractual basis for three years from the date of joining or until attaining the age of 67-whichever came earlier-subject to relinquishing all professional affiliations with other institutions and organisations.
Alam joined the Financial Institutions Division as Secretary in November 2012 and served in the role for more than three years.
Following the 2016 reserve heist at Bangladesh Bank and the subsequent resignation of then Governor Atiur Rahman on 15 March 2016, Alam was removed from the division and made an Officer on Special Duty (OSD). He was later appointed Rector of the Bangladesh Public Administration Training Centre (BPATC).
Sonali Bank Chairman Resigns
In a separate development, Chairman of state-owned Sonali Bank, Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury, has also resigned.
Officials concerned confirmed that Chowdhury submitted his resignation letter to Financial Institutions Division Secretary Najma Mobarek on Monday, citing personal reasons.
A former Finance Secretary and Comptroller and Auditor General, Chowdhury was appointed Chairman of Sonali Bank on 28 August 2024 for a three-year term by the interim government.
Earlier that month, following the fall of the government on 5 August, officers and employees of the bank staged protests demanding the resignation of then Chairman Ziaul Hasan Siddiqui. Siddiqui, a former Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank, subsequently stepped down on 19 August.
The twin resignations mark significant changes in the leadership of the country's insurance regulator and largest state-owned commercial bank.
