AB Bank PLC. has appointed Mr. Areef Billah Adil Chowdhury as the Managing Director (MD). He has officially assumed his responsibilities on August 19, 2026.

With more than 25 years of extensive experience in both domestic and international banking organizations, Mr. Chowdhury is widely recognized for his visionary leadership, strategic skills, transformational expertise and unwavering commitment to sustainable growth.

Prior to joining AB Bank, Mr. Chowdhury served as the Managing Director of National Bank PLC. (NBPLC). Under his leadership the bank was able to rebuild depositors’ trust, resolve non-performing assets as well as modernize its core technology by upgrading Temenos Core Banking system and achieving ISO 27001:2022 certification for information security.

He joined as President and Managing Director at Bank Asia in 2020 where he led a comprehensive strengthening of the financial organization’s including capital enhancement. Before that, he served as Director at the bank of Nova Scotia in Hong Kong and Singapore and held over several senior leadership positions overseas for more than 15 years. During his international career, he also oversaw strategic operations across the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions.

Earlier in his career, he worked with Credit Agricole Indosuez and American Express Bank in Dhaka. He later played a pivotal role in establishing the Treasury Department of Scotiabank’s Dhaka branch.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering (VLSI design) from the University of Texas at Austin, USA and an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario in Canada.

Mr. Chowdhury’s appointment is expected to mark another significant milestone for AB Bank- the country’s first private commercial bank as it continues to strengthen customer trust, ensure sustainable growth and accelerate its ongoing transformation journey.