Bangladesh Bank has given Islami Bank a special loan of Tk 2,500 crore to ease a cash crunch. The central bank took the decision on Sunday morning.
The money was credited to Islami Bank’s current account held with Bangladesh Bank. As a result, the bank’s cheque settlement has resumed. The information was learned from sources at Bangladesh Bank and Islami Bank.
A senior Islami Bank official said demand for cash had risen sharply. Deposits were almost non-existent, with everyone wanting to withdraw money, the official said. If the situation continued, there would be no option but to keep branches closed. Quick decisions had to be taken to handle the situation so that customer confidence could be restored, the official said.
Five directors of Islami Bank, including the chairman, are independent directors appointed by Bangladesh Bank. On May 24, the last working day before Eid ul-Adha, the bank’s then chairman M Zubaidur Rahman resigned. Later that night, at 9 p.m., former Bangladesh Bank deputy governor Md. Khurshid Alam was appointed as an independent director and the bank’s new chairman. Since then, a forum of concerned customers has been holding protests under its banner over a seven-point list of demands, including the removal of the chairman.
Islami Bank was also the subject of heated discussion between the government and opposition benches in parliament. In such a situation, customers showed a greater tendency to withdraw money. To manage the situation, Islami Bank had sought a Tk 10,000 crore loan from Bangladesh Bank.
Protest continues again today
A group of customers held a sit-in in front of Islami Bank Tower on Sunday morning under the banner of the concerned customers’ forum, pressing a seven-point demand including the chairman’s resignation. They announced a programme to submit a memorandum to the Bangladesh Bank governor next Tuesday demanding the chairman’s resignation.
In 2017, the S Alam Group, an industrial conglomerate close to the then Awami League government, took control of Islami Bank by buying shares in its own name and through proxies. It is alleged that the Directorate General of Defence Forces Intelligence (DGFI) assisted in this. After the fall of the Awami League government in the student-public mass uprising of August 2024, the bank came out of S Alam’s control. Since then, representatives of Bangladesh Bank have been running the bank. More than 50 percent of Islami Bank’s loans are now non-performing, a large share of which was taken by the S Alam Group in its own name and through proxies.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report