Depositors of five troubled Shariah-based merged banks will now be able to withdraw up to a maximum of Tk10 lakh for other urgent needs alongside medical treatment.
Previously, this facility was strictly limited to personal medical expenses.
According to the new decision, these funds can now be withdrawn for other urgent family needs as well, including the medical treatment of parents, spouses, children, and siblings.
The decision was made on Wednesday during a meeting of the board of directors of Bangladesh Bank, chaired by governor Md Mostakur Rahman.
A senior official of Bangladesh Bank, speaking on condition of anonymity, stated that this benefit was added by amending the previously announced scheme for returning depositors' funds.
Considering practical circumstances, the decision was taken to allow fund withdrawals for urgent family expenses beyond just medical treatment.
Another central bank official said that many customers of First Security Islami Bank, Social Islami Bank, Union Bank, Global Islami Bank, and EXIM Bank were facing financial distress due to various urgent needs outside of medical care.
Although there was a need to cover family members' medical care, educational expenses, or other emergency costs, the previous policy offered no such provision. This limitation has been removed under the revised scheme.
Earlier, individual general depositors had the opportunity to receive a maximum refund of up to Tk2 lakh.
However, no new decision has yet been made regarding the refund of corporate deposits.
Last year, the interim government formed "Sammilito Islami Bank" by merging the five Shariah-based banks facing crisis—First Security Islami Bank, Social Islami Bank, Union Bank, Global Islami Bank, and Exim Bank.
The paid-up capital of the new bank has been set at Tk35,000 crore.
Out of this, the government provided Tk20,000 crore in capital, while depositors will be issued shares against the remaining Tk15,000 crore.
On the other hand, the program to pay back deposits of up to Tk2 lakh by allocating Tk12,000 crore from the Deposit Insurance Fund is currently ongoing.
According to Bangladesh Bank data, a total of Tk3,887 crore has been paid to 822,000 depositors so far.
Out of this, 350,000 customers of First Security Islami Bank alone received nearly BDT 1,600 crore.
Latest central bank figures show that at the end of last December, the total outstanding loan balance of the five merged banks stood at Tk195,000 crore.
Against this, the collateral value was Tk47,900 crore, accounting for 24.56% of total loans.
Currently, the amount of default loans in these banks has surged to Tk170,500 crore, which represents 87.43% of their total loans.
