Bangladesh Bank has not yet made the decision to merge any Islamic banks with others, despite having made the decision to combine the country's weaker banks with its stronger ones.
Padma Bank has already decided to voluntarily merge with the Exim Bank. Meanwhile, the central bank has finally prepared a list to merge several more banks.
It is learnt that the bank owners who have weak Islamic banks have promised to improve the financial conditions of the banks on their own initiative.
Recently, the directors and chairmen of various banks held a meeting with the governor of Bangladesh Bank. In the meeting, it was decided to merge 10 weak banks with various strong banks.
The list includes Padma Bank, AB Bank, National Bank, One Bank, BDBL, BASIC Bank, National Bank of Pakistan, Rajshahi Agricultural Development Bank, South Bengal Agriculture and Commerce Bank and ICB Islamic Bank.
However, no final decision has been taken regarding the merger of ICB Islamic Bank. Sources said that the Orion Group is talking about buying the shares of ICB Islamic Bank. Earlier the name of ICB Islamic Bank was The Oriental Bank. At that time the bank was owned by Orion Group.
However, with the intervention of the central bank, it bought the majority of the shares of the Malaysian-based ICB Islamic Group Bank. Despite changes in name, ownership and management, ICB Islamic Bank could not turn around.
Meanwhile, the financial conditions of some Islamic banks have been discussed at various times. Many reports were also run in various media. So far, it is known that no Islamic banks are being merged.
It has been reported that UCB and NBL had earlier discussed the issue of merger under the auspices of Bangladesh Bank. The financial base of National Bank is weak where as it is strong for UCB. Bangladesh Bank has recently issued Bank Merger Policy, which has detailed guidelines for merger of weak banks with strong ones – both voluntarily and mandatorily.
It has already been decided to merge the state-owned Basic Bank with the private-owned City Bank through the mediation of the central bank. Besides, Padma Bank has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Exim Bank for their merger. At a meeting held last week, Bangladesh Bank also decided to merge BDBL with state-owned Sonali and Rajshahi Agricultural Development Bank with Bangladesh Krishi Bank.
