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.
A “staffer of S Alam Group” took out Tk 118 crore from Union Bank without any approval or following any banking norms, indicating how the controversial business conglomerate used the bank.
While more than a dozen banks in Bangladesh are struggling to stay afloat, Pubali Bank, which has emerged as one of the leading private commercial lenders, stands as a glowing example of how to traverse difficult times.
The volume of cash outside the banking sector of Bangladesh has been increasing since the start of the year due to persistent inflation, the loss of consumer confidence in the sector due to the presence of ailing lenders, and the prevailing situation following the recent political changeover.
Sixteen non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) faced a combined provision shortfall of Tk 1,954 crore till June this year, reflecting that their financial health had worsened.
As crisis-hit lenders have started getting liquidity support from the inter-bank money market, they are now repaying depositors for specific purposes, such as medical emergencies, and in the case of salary disbursement or remittance encashment.
EkPay, an e-payment system of the Aspire to Innovate (a2i) programme of the government, has been offering all types of payment services without obtaining a licence from the Bangladesh Bank (BB), which is in clear violation of the Payment and Settlement System Act-2024.
Non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) in the past fiscal year saw their defaulted loans reach a record 33.15 percent of all disbursed loans, according to the central bank, indicating a fragile situation in the sector thanks to widespread loan irregularities and scams.
About $809 million has piled up in a Bangladesh Bank escrow account to repay loans and interest for the Russia-funded Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant.
S Alam Group and its linked companies account for more than 86 percent of the disbursed loans of Global Islami Bank (GIB), one of the six Shariah-based lenders that were controlled by the Chattogram-based business giant.
S Alam Group’s takeover of the Islami Bank to drain the healthiest bank of the country had left investors and customers in shock. It did not stop there.
