Nat’l Bank not up for merger

National Bank officials do not want the bank to merge with another entity.

Top officials say they are yet to be formally informed about Bangladesh Bank's decision to merge National Bank with United Commercial Bank.

"The board of directors has decided that If we are able to bring the bank in good shape, we will not merge with any other bank," Serajul Islam, independent director of the National Bank, told The Daily Star.

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The board has set daily targets to address the non-performing loans situation, he added.

The merger decision was made at a meeting between the central bank governor and UCB managing director on April 9.

National Bank Managing Director Touhidul Alam Khan recently said a sudden rush to withdraw money from the bank was putting the institution under pressure.

In December last year, Bangladesh Bank reconstituted the board of National Bank, which was beset with irregularities.

After the authorities decided to merge the state-run BASIC Bank with City Bank, BASIC's board of directors wrote to the finance ministry on April 18 requesting that they be merged with a state-run bank, not a private one.