Bangladesh Bank has formulated regulations allowing local banks to appoint international consulting firms to conduct comprehensive assessments of their financial health.

"The special regulations of Bangladesh Bank, 2024" was approved at the 438th meeting of the board of directors of the central bank recently.

In a notice today, the banking regulator said the objective of the regulation was to enable the banks to undertake a risk-based comprehensive assessment through any competent international consulting firm.

The international consulting firm will suggest appropriate remedial measures necessary in public interest and for improvement of the state and condition of banks and bank policies.

The regulation said the consulting firm would diagnose the health of banks, including conducting reviews of asset quality, corporate governance, policies of the bank concerned, procedures, processes, compliance with laws and regulations and any other assessment as and when necessary.

The new regulations said Bangladesh Bank would assign a designated department to coordinate the activities of the international consulting firm with the scheduled banks in relation to the comprehensive assessment.

The consulting firm will submit a report to the governor of the central bank as per the contract documents, it said.

The governor will submit the report to the board to take necessary measures in accordance with the applicable laws, it added.

After the installation of the interim government, the central bank reconstituted the board of directors of 11 banks.

A majority of the boards was dominated by business conglomerate S Alam Group.

Ahsan H Mansur, the central bank's new governor, recently said the banking regulator was going to conduct forensic audits into a dozen crisis-hit banks to assess their financial state.

More than a dozen banks have now become very weak as Awami League affiliated business tycoons and influential quarters took out huge amounts of loans from the banking sector and laundered it abroad.