National Bank is to begin accepting applications for the return of depositors’ money. Customers will get their money back from 15 October.
The bank’s chairman, Melita Mehjabeen, said earlier: “We will start all services from 15 October. We will be ready with adequate liquidity at every branch and ATM booth, so that no customer goes back empty-handed.”
For a long time under the Awami League government, National Bank’s board was controlled by the Sikder Group. The group lost control of the bank after Bangladesh Bank intervened in 2024. Members of the families of the Multimode Group, Hosaf Group and Armana Group are now involved in running it.
But the bank is still in crisis because of earlier irregularities and looting. It has a high rate of defaulted loans and continuous losses, and customers are having trouble withdrawing money. Despite repeated liquidity support from Bangladesh Bank, it has not been able to return fully to normal operations.
National Bank has made a loss every year since 2022. According to Bangladesh Bank data, 56.44% of the bank’s total loans are now in default, amounting to about Tk 24,000 crore. Its provisioning shortfall against loans is about Tk 20,000 crore. The bank lost Tk 1,706 crore in 2024.
Between 2022 and 2025 the bank lost about Tk 9,000 crore. According to its latest unaudited financial statement, its loss in the first six months of 2026 was Tk 2,286 crore, a loss of Tk 7.10 a share. In the same period of 2025 the loss was Tk 3.6 a share, or Tk 985 crore.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report