Say bankers at The Daily Star discussion on the country’s financial sector

Although Bangladesh’s banking sector added 910 female staff members in the first half of 2026, essential workplace provisions for women took a step backwards, according to Bangladesh Bank (BB).

An economy cannot maintain credit discipline when offenders are repeatedly rewarded rather than punished. When such rewards become the norm, borrowers start to feel less obligated to repay.

At the end of June this year, bad loans in the banking sector stood at Tk 6,06,555 crore, which is 32.78 percent of the total disbursed loans

Weak governance and poor institutional performance have eroded public trust in banks, pushing many depositors towards informal channels, experts said at a recent event.

The country’s banking sector recorded a net loss of Tk 1.36 lakh crore in 2025, as a surge in bad loans wiped out income across much of the industry, according to a Bangladesh Bank report.

More than half of the country’s scheduled banks will not be able to pay dividends this year, as rising bad loans and provisioning shortfalls continue to erode their financial strength.

At its core, banking is about pricing and managing risk. Trouble begins when risk is quietly recycled within the system rather than reduced or spread adequately across the board. In trading bonds, that is increasingly what is happening in the country’s banking sector.

An estimated Tk 70,000 crore, along with time and careful management, would be needed to solve the crisis in the banking sector, said Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur.

To attain viability, banks must manage the various risks they encounter in this process of intermediation.

BB governor says as businesses demand action

Asset quality review aims to improve banking sector stability

Banking sector's asset quality declines as distressed loans balloon to Tk 7.56 lakh crore

Large volumes of long-buried toxic loans surfaced after last August's political changeover

New rules tie promotion to exams, training, and clean service records across four state-run banks

The ongoing crisis has been caused by the last one and a half decades of grand-scale deviation of governance in the banking industry.

Despite rising interest rates on deposits and various efforts by the central bank, Bangladesh’s banking sector continues to face a liquidity crisis that has hamstrung some lenders.

The regime-sponsored immorality to protect or pamper the financial gangsters not only eroded the future of the banking sector, but also made the wound too difficult to recover from.

Traditional contractionary policies may not be suitable for Bangladesh’s unique economic structure.

The Bangladesh Bank is working to formulate a “Bank Resolution Act” for mergers, acquisitions, liquidation or recapitalisation of banks.