Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur has said that there is a plan to merge the Islamic banks to form two large banks.
Bangladesh's Islamic banking sector would be completely restructured, as most of the existing Islamic banks are currently in trouble, he said.
He made the annoucement while speaking at the 10th Annual Banking Conference at the Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) in Mirpur on Wednesday.
Dr. Mansur emphasized the need to eliminate political interference in the banking system, asserting that this would prevent “a reign of loot” within the industry. "No one will be allowed to escape by looting bank money," he said, underscoring his commitment to enforcing accountability and transparency within the sector.
The Governor highlighted the systemic issues plaguing both banks and non-bank financial institutions, attributing them to irregularities, scams, and a failure of governance.
For this, after the political change on 5 August last year, Bangladesh Bank took the initiative to form a task force, introduce new laws and amend existing laws such as the Bank Companies Act, he pointed out.
As a result, some of the looted banks have started to turn around, but several banks are in a state of collapse, said Mansur.
Noting that the condition of all banks is not bad, but the condition of those that are bad is very bad, he said.
The governor said, "No one will be allowed to escape by looting bank money and political interference in banks will be stopped."
He also said, "The central bank will intervene in the bank board in the interest of the customers and the board of another bank will be dissolved in the next few weeks.”