Md Mehedi Hasan

Says Md Mehmood Husain, independent director and current chair of the bank

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has maintained its tight monetary policy stance for the second half of the current fiscal year (FY) 2024-25 to tame the stubbornly high inflation. 

Janata Bank’s defaulted loans surged to a record Tk 67,300 crore by the end of last year, as politically exposed persons and business conglomerates became defaulters following the recent political changeover, reflecting the fragile condition of the state-run bank.

Nazrul Islam Mazumder, chairman of Nassa Group and a close associate of deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, has been accused of trade-based money laundering amounting to Tk 16,000 crore by the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit.

Padma Bank, formerly Farmers Bank, has sunk into such a financial abyss that the lender is struggling to pay its employees’ monthly salaries and has sought a Tk 5,000 crore bailout package from Bangladesh Bank to stay afloat.

Mutual Trust Bank (MTB) is expanding its digital services to cater to Generation Z while diversifying its loan portfolio to reduce its concentration in wholesale lending.

The government’s net bank borrowing has risen sharply due to lacklustre tax collection, slow private sector credit growth and the overall economic slowdown since the political changeover in August last year.

Samadhan Services Limited, a concern of Grameen Telecom, has at last gained ground in its effort to become a payment service provider (PSP) in Bangladesh.

The flow of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Bangladesh fell to $104.33 million in the July-September quarter of fiscal year 2024-25, the lowest in at least six years, as foreign investors stayed away from Bangladesh amid deadly political unrest, labour agitation, and a persistent economic crisis.

Bangladesh Bank has officially given the green light for banks to trade foreign currency at freely negotiated rates, but there’s a catch. An unofficially imposed mechanism has upset the foreign exchange market, undermining the intent of liberalisation.

Md Asadul Islam, former senior secretary of the Financial Institutions Division of the finance ministry, is still serving as chairman of Sonali Bangladesh UK Ltd, a subsidiary of state-run Sonali Bank, despite retiring from government service in 2021.

The banking regulator found the involvement of Md Abdul Jalil, independent director and executive committee chairman of the bank, in the loan irregularities.

Defaulted loans at the country’s non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) reached a record 36 percent of all loans disbursed by them as of September 2024, a level that sector people described as a reflection of “massive irregularities and scams” seven to eight years ago.

Expatriate Bangladeshis sent home a record $26.9 billion, up 23 percent year-on-year, in a development that will bring a huge sigh of relief to policymakers as they endeavour to shore up strained dollar stockpile.

Bangladesh Bank (BB) has extended a total of Tk 12,500 crore in emergency funds to three beleaguered banks to dress up their balance sheet ahead of the year’s end. 

After seven months of implementing a crawling peg exchange rate system in spot purchases and sales of US dollars, the Bangladesh Bank (BB) is now considering increasing the mid-rate to Tk 119 from Tk 117 per greenback, according to central bank officials.

In October, a video on social media showed the manager of Social Islami Bank’s Agargaon branch breaking down in tears after enduring harsh verbal abuse from frustrated customers seeking to withdraw cash.

Once a reputable state-run commercial lender, Agrani Bank saw its financial health deteriorate fast over the past five years, mainly due to massive lending to politically backed businesses, mismanagement by the board and fallouts of Covid-19.

Companies linked to the controversial S Alam Group took out 56 percent of the total disbursed loans of First Security Islami Bank (FSIB), one of six Shariah-based lenders controlled by the Chattogram-based business giant.

The Bangladesh Bank is waiting for the interim government to bring a Payment and Settlement System Act, 2024 into effect, as it intends to take legal action against mobile financial service (MFS) provider Nagad Ltd over alleged irregularities.