Md Mehedi Hasan

As much as 89.3 percent of the credit extended by First Security Islami Bank, when controlled by the major Awami League beneficiary S Alam Group, to AL-affiliated Sikder Group by violating banking rules and regulations has become defaulted.

Problem-ridden Padma Bank has applied to the Bangladesh Bank for Tk 1,300 crore in liquidity support to mitigate its crisis and strengthen its ability to repay depositors.

Defaulted loans at six private commercial banks nearly tripled in one year till September 2024, according to central bank data, which bankers term “alarming”.

State-run Janata Bank has been partly exempted from the Bank Companies Act-1991 so that it can lend money to Beximco Group, a loan defaulter. 

Consumer financing has slowed as people are adopting a go-slow strategy for taking loans, considering the increasing trend of interest rates amid ongoing inflationary pressure.

Motijheel is losing its historic lustre as Dhaka’s commercial hub, with Gulshan, among the wealthiest neighbourhoods in the capital, stealing its thunder.

Janata Bank is set to auction the mortgaged assets of Simran Composite Ltd

The Bangladesh Bank overstated the net foreign direct investment data by $5.7 billion between fiscal 2019-20 and 2022-23.

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has backtracked on its decision to refrain from injecting fresh funds into crisis-hit banks in its efforts to curb persistent inflation.

Banking rules and regulations stipulate a single borrower exposure limit but the banking regulator itself disregarded the rule routinely in the last 16 years.

Once a reputable private commercial lender, AB Bank’s financial health is now deteriorating gradually due to boardroom mismanagement, loan irregularities, illegal facilities availed by its sponsors and inaccurate measures by the central bank.

Social Islami Bank PLC stands out among crisis-hit banks with no “untraceable” loans, a factor that will catalyse its swift recovery, according to M Sadiqul Islam, the new chairman of the Shariah-based lender.

The Bangladesh Association of Banks (BAB), the private bank owners’ forum, will work with the central bank governor and the finance adviser to rejuvenate the banking sector, weakened under 15 years of Awami League rule, said its new chairman Abdul Hai Sarker.

The defaulted loan figure is set to double as the Bangladesh Bank is set to tighten the classification rules for all types of loans by March next year to meet the International Monetary Fund’s loan conditions.

Awami League-affiliated businesses had already put the country’s banking sector in trouble with huge bad debts, but the loans disbursed through irregularities to these companies turned sour even at a more alarming pace after the party’s ouster.

Despite an overall improvement in foreign currency stocks, some state-run banks and Shariah-based lenders are not making import payments on time, prompting the central bank to issue a notice and warn of punitive actions against bank officials.

A bank will not be able to do Islamic banking business along with conventional banking at the same time, according to the draft ‘Islami Bank Company Act-2024’, as the central bank looks to level the playing field for Shariah-based banks.

Private sector credit growth decelerated to the slowest pace in three years in September due to uncertainty in the investment environment following the recent political changeover.

Remittance inflow has continued to rise for the past few months, providing a breather for a country facing multiple challenges, including external payment pressures amid dwindling foreign exchange reserves.

A large chunk of a Tk 10,000 crore central bank fund, meant for financing raw material imports for export orders, remains stuck with four crisis-hit banks, according to Bangladesh Bank officials.