Siddique Islam

About

Siddique Islam, a Dhaka-based entrepreneurial economist, has been promoted to Chief Reporter at The Financial Express (FE), just seven months after rejoining the country’s leading financial daily. He re-joined the national business daily in September 2024 as a special correspondent after serving at Bank Asia PLC as the Chief Market Analyst & Head of Corporate Affairs. Prior to joining Bank Asia, Mr. Islam held the same reporting position at the FE, covering mainly banking, the apparel and clothing sector, trade, entrepreneurship, commerce, and investment since 2003. In addition to his extensive work at the FE, he has contributed to both local and international media outlets, including just-style.com (UK), SPORTSWEAR INTERNATIONAL (Germany), AHN Media Corporation (USA), Mizzima News (Myanmar), and NNS (India), serving in various editorial and correspondent roles since 1992. Mr. Islam is also an International Monetary Fund (IMF) media fellow.BANKING EXPERIENCES As the chief market analyst, I had regularly analysed major macroeconomic indicators, including monetary and credit activities, along with the balance of payments, to predict and forecast the movement of both forex and money markets. I was also responsible for estimating the possible trend of yields on Treasury bills and bonds. Another prime responsibility for me was to analyze balance sheets of peer banks and assess the financial health of the banks on a quarterly basis. Besides, I was regularly facilitating preparation of monthly ALCO papers. I was also a member of the sustainable finance committee and provided insights of financial inclusion as well as entrepreneurship development, particularly to women in rural areas. Additionally, I issued market alerts based on industry insides’ information as well as undisclosed strategies of the peer banks and worked for HDFC Bank of India as a contributing expert for identifying the top 10 private commercial banks in Bangladesh considering their asset quality, capital adequacy, and management quality in 2020.As the head of corporate affairs, I maintained liaison with the officials of different regulatory bodies including the central bank of Bangladesh. I was also responsible for looking after and handling various sensitive media issues for maintaining industry image as well as branding of the Bank. I had prepared guidelines and procedures of PR and branding activities, applying my long journalism experiences.