Bangladesh Bank begins liquidation hearings with nine NBFIs

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) today started hearings with the top brass of nine non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs) to determine whether they have any grounds for opposing the planned liquidation of the troubled firms.

The BB earlier sent letters to the NBFIs, asking them to attend hearings scheduled for today and tomorrow at its headquarters in Dhaka.

At the hearings, the NBFIs will have to explain why they should not be placed into liquidation, while BB officials will present the case for winding them up, according to central bank officials.

The nine NBFIs facing liquidation are: FAS Finance, Bangladesh Industrial Finance Company, Premier Leasing, Fareast Finance, GSP Finance, Prime Finance, Aviva Finance, People’s Leasing, and International Leasing.

In November last year, the BB board approved the liquidation of the NBFIs under the newly framed Bank Resolution Ordinance 2025, the country’s first comprehensive framework for resolving failing banks and non-banks.

The ordinance outlines how distressed institutions may be merged, restructured or closed, and sets out the hierarchy for repaying creditors once assets are sold.

Together, the nine institutions account for 52 percent or Tk 25,089 crore of the total defaulted loans among the NBFIs at the end of 2024, reflecting years of unchecked lending irregularities and capital erosion.

BB Governor Ahsan H Mansur recently said that individual depositors of the nine ailing NBFIs slated for liquidation may get back their principal amounts before Ramadan in February.

The government has verbally approved around Tk 5,000 crore to repay non-bank depositors, officials said.

Central bank data show the nine NBFIs hold Tk 15,370 crore in deposits, of which Tk 3,525 crore belongs to individual depositors, and Tk 11,845 crore belongs to banks and corporate clients.