The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) on Thursday suspended share trading of five troubled Islamic banks that are in the process of merger.
The capital’s bourse announced in five separate notifications that share trading of these banks will remain closed until further notice.
The suspended banks are First Security Islami Bank, Union Bank, Global Islami Bank, Social Islami Bank, and Exim Bank.
Earlier on Wednesday, Bangladesh Bank officially wrote to the boards of directors of these five banks that they have been declared 'unviable' under the Bank Companies Act.
At the same time, the boards of directors of the banks were dissolved and an administrator was appointed in each of them.
According to the central bank's decision, these banks will now be operated under the Bank Resolution Ordinance 2025. After the administrators take charge, in the first phase, deposits of small depositors (up to Tk2 lakh) will be returned from the Deposit Protection Fund.
Large depositors will get their money back in phases, Bangladesh Bank said.
Although the merger process is expected to take about two years to complete, the central bank has assured that measures have been taken to protect the interests of customers in the initial stage.
According to Bangladesh Bank's calculations, the five merged banks will jointly form 'Sammilito Islami Bank', whose initial capital will be Tk35,000 crore. Of this, the government will provide Tk20,000 crore, and the remaining Tk15,000 crore will be converted into depositors' shares.
It is worth noting that during the Awami League government, four of these five banks were owned by S Alam Group, and one bank was owned by Nazrul Islam Majumder.
At that time, thousands of crores of taka were withdrawn from the banks in the name of the bank, which weakened their financial base and ultimately led to the central bank's decision to merge them.
