After much drama, Bangladesh Development Bank (BDBL) has signed a deal with the state-owned Sonali Bank to merge their operations.
As a result, 42.46 percent of the defaulted amount of loans of BDBL will now fall on the shoulders of Sonali Bank though its defaulted amount of loans has already stood at 14.13 percent.
Moderated by Bangladesh Bank governor Abdur Rouf Talukder, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on Sunday (May 12, 2024) to merge the government-run BDBL with Sonali Bank.
Sonali Bank chairman Ziaul Hasan Siddiqui, its managing director and CEO Md Afzal Karim, BDBL chairman Shamima Nargis and its managing director Md Habibur Rahman Gazi were present, among others, at the MoU signing ceremony.
Following the signing of the MoU, Sonali Bank managing director Afzal Karim said the BDBL employees should not be concerned over the merger with Sonali Bank. "We have about 8,000 manpower. In spite of it, we are facing shortfall of manpower. On the other hand, the BDBL has some 600 manpower. So, they should not be afraid of the merger."
"The unified entity would be stronger. Bangladesh Bank will initiate further steps by appointing an audit firm," he added.
According to an updated report of the Bangladesh Bank, the BDBL's defaulted loans amounted to Tk 982 crore in December last, which was 42.46 percent of the disbursed amount of loans. On the other hand, the defaulted loans of Sonali Bank amounted to Tk 93,096 crore at the same time. Of the amount, Tk 13,150 crore or 14.13 percent was defaulted amount.
Expressing deep concern, sources concerned said that the condition of Sonali Bank would be worsened due to the merger with the BDBL.
Besides, it would also be very difficult to bring down the defaulted amount of loans at 10 percent as per the conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to receive loans from it.
In 2009, BDBL was formed through the merger of Bangladesh Shilpa Bank (BSB) and Bangladesh Shilpa Rin Sangstha (BSRS). Then irregularities started rising in BDBL. Its defaulted loans started increasing. The bank could not realise defaulted loan amounts from the so-called powerful loan defaulters. However, the other indicators of the bank were good, and it started realising its defaulted loans. In spite of it, the BDBL employees lodged protests and sent open letters to different departments of the government on the question of merger. However, the Bangladesh Bank did not take the objections into account.
