Bangladesh Bank on Wednesday dissolved the boards of directors of the five Shariah-based banks, to set the ball in motion for merging them into a large Islamic bank.
Bangladesh Bank officially informed the decision in a letter to the managing directors (MDs) of the banks concerned on Wednesday.
A senior central bank official said: “The boards have been abolished to move forward with the merger process. The governor will announce in a press conference who will take charge as administrators of these banks.”
The five banks whose boards have been dissolved are Exim Bank, Social Islami Bank, First Security Islami Bank, Union Bank, and Global Islami Bank.
It is learned that during the Awami League government, four of these banks were owned by S Alam Group, and one bank was owned by Nazrul Islam Majumder.
At that time, there were allegations of huge amounts of money being withdrawn from the banks anonymously, which led to their financial condition becoming fragile.
According to the decision of Bangladesh Bank, a strong Islamic bank will be formed through the merger, so that the interests of depositors can be protected and the stability of the Islamic banking sector can be ensured.
According to central bank sources, the work of formulating the structure, capital system and management policies of the merged bank will begin after the appointment of the administrator.
