Md Mehedi Hasan

After seven years, S Alam Group’s control over Islami Bank ended yesterday after the Bangladesh Bank decided to dissolve the board of the country’s largest private sector bank that was heavily dominated by individuals linked to the conglomerate.

S Alam Group and its associate companies took out Tk 95,331 crore between 2017 and June this year from six banks, with 79 percent of the sum coming from Islami Bank.

Six banks including four Shariah-based ones are still facing a deficit in their current accounts with the central bank despite special liquidity support.

The Bangladesh Bank instructed state-run Sonali Bank to classify the Tk 106 crore loans taken by Orion Infrastructure Ltd as defaulted since the client repeatedly failed to repay on time.

As much as 90 percent of the loans disbursed by a branch of state-run Janata Bank was for S Alam Group, in yet another instance of how the Chattogram-based business giant exerted its influence on the country’s banking sector.

Chattogram-based conglomerate S Alam Group and garment manufacturer Nassa Group were given interest waivers amounting to Tk 2,544 crore bypassing banking rules, in a testament to the outsize influence oligarchs had on the banking sector during the Awami League-led government of the past 15 years.

Salman F Rahman is known for using his influence to get bank loans for Beximco Group by bending rules, but documents seen by this newspaper have revealed how he helped others secure credit, or at least tried to.

What is the purpose of a single borrower exposure limit? It is to ensure that a bank’s fortune is not tied to the ebb and flow of a conglomerate’s business.

Loans amounting to nearly $600 million, or Tk 7,000 crore, disbursed from the Export Development Fund (EDF), which was formed based on the country’s foreign exchange reserves, have been defaulted, according to a Bangladesh Bank (BB) document.

The Bangladesh Bank reduced the special liquidity support extended to nine lenders, including five Shariah-based banks, despite the absence of a governor.

Abdur Rouf Talukder resigned from the post of governor of the Bangladesh Bank on Friday, four days after Sheikh Hasina stepped down as prime minister and fled the country in the face of a mass uprising.

The Bangladesh Bank has incurred a loss of Tk 55 crore from its foreign exchange deal with Islami Bank centring the introduction of the crawling peg exchange rate system.

Islami Bank Bangladesh today rejected a cheque of a little-known company seeking to withdraw Tk 548 crore

Lending from offshore units of banks in Bangladesh has declined amid the ongoing foreign exchange crisis, leaving the segment in a fragile situation.

There is a lot of talk over a recent hike in interest rates but there is still scope to keep lending rates at a low level, said Md Afzal Karim, managing director of Sonali Bank.

Bankers are dreading a big drop in their profits as their defaulted loans are likely to increase further due to the curfew and the five-day internet blackout.

Rabiul Islam, a practising Muslim who works at a private organisation, refrained from conventional banking services for many years as both paying and receiving interest are against his religious principles.

The internet blackout for five days has affected remittance collection through banks and mobile financial services (MFS), which may put pressure on the country’s foreign exchange reserves.

Some banks have decided not to impose any interest or fees on clients for delayed payment of loan instalments, including that against credit cards, amidst a nationwide curfew and internet blackout.

Online banking, ATM and digital payment services including money transfers and utility bill payments continued to be disrupted yesterday amid the ongoing internet blackout across the country since Thursday.