Credit demand in the private sector of Bangladesh has virtually ground to a halt, hitting its lowest level since at least 2004, indicating a distressed business and investment situation.
Steady growth in remittance inflow has helped the interim government arrest the decline in foreign currency reserves, leading many to wonder why the remitters are sending more and more money back home.
The country’s foreign exchange market is stabilising thanks to a surge in US dollar (USD) inflows, driven by higher remittances, stronger export earnings and tighter oversight by the central bank.
Of the 35 NBFIs in the country, a dozen are currently struggling to repay depositors due to an acute liquidity crisis
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has drafted a Deposit Protection Ordinance, proposing a maximum payout of Tk 2 lakh per depositor if a bank undergoes liquidation. The limit will be reviewed every three years.
Islamic wings of conventional banks have become the preferred choice for religiously inclined depositors as many full-fledged Shariah-based banks struggle with a crisis of trust.
At the end of last year, defaulted loans in the banking sector stood at Tk 345,765 crore, with those state-run and private commercial banks holding the majority.
It happened in just two days. A Nabil Group employee and a relative of its chairman own the firm.
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.
