The board of directors of National Bank Ltd (NBL) has taken decision against merging with United Commercial Bank (UCB).
NBL reached the decision following a board meeting held on Sunday (28 April), stating their refusal to accept the 'forcibly assigned decision' of Bangladesh Bank, said an NBL official.
On 9 April, the central bank decided to hand over control of NBL to UCB after a meeting between top officials of UCB and BB, chaired by central bank’s governor Abdur Rouf Talukder.
An NBL official said, “On 9 April, a decision to merge with UCB was imposed without any prior discussion with NBL authorities. This decision caused panic among depositors and officials on the last working day before Eid, prompting depositors to begin withdrawing money from the bank.”
"The bank has decided to ramp up its debt collection efforts and initiate a crash program, particularly focusing on the top defaulters. To achieve this targets, officials will be assigned specific debt collection targets at different levels," added the banker.
Furthermore, the merging of state-owned Basic Bank with privately-owned City Bank, mediated by the central bank, has become uncertain amidst protests from officials and staff of Basic Bank.
Depositors are withdrawing their money as panic spreads throughout the banking sector regarding the merger issue. In an effort to control the situation, Bangladesh Bank announced that no more banks will be merged, except for five.
“Bangladesh Bank will work on the consolidation of BDBL, BASIC, Padma, National Bank, and RKUB. No other banks will be merged for now,” said BB Spokesperson Md Mezbaul Haque on 15 April.
