BML to hold extraordinary general meeting on Sep 21 amid govt clash

An extraordinary general meeting of shareholders is scheduled to be held on September 21 to change the board of Bank of Maldives (BML)

BML said in a statement on Tuesday that it has decided to hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders at the request of the central bank, Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA). The meeting will be held at:

According to the announcement, the only item on the agenda of the meeting was the appointment of persons to the board of directors of BML.

The announcement comes after BML's deputy CEO Aishath Noordeen resigned from the board following a decision by the government to remove from the board.

Noordeen, who has been serving BML for 42 years, was informed of her dismissal from the bank's board in a letter sent to her on Saturday by the Privatisation and Corporatisation Board (PCB), which oversees government companies.

However, according to the charter of BML, the board of directors of the bank is removed by a general meeting of shareholders as BML is also a publicly owned company.

BML on Sunday temporarily banned debit cards and new credit cards issued to Maldivian Rufiyaa accounts to carry out foreign transactions in violation of discussions with the government, the government had said.

The bank changed its decision Sunday evening to allow the central bank, the Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA), to assist BML in raising foreign exchange.

Economic minister Mohamed Saeed told a news conference at the President's Office Sunday evening that the economic council and BML had decided not to change the card limits despite the difficulty in obtaining dollars. However, the spirit within the bank later changed and BML suddenly came to a decision, he said.

Police had launched a "serious investigation" into a "coup" following BML's decision to temporarily remove foreign transactions from existing debit and credit.