The banking regulator has issued the preliminary licence for Sammilito Islami Bank, the proposed largest shariah-based bank to be formed through merger of five severely liquidity-crisis-ridden unconventional banks.
"Yes, we issued letter of intent (LoI) in favour of the merged bank today after an emergency virtual board meeting," a BB official told the FE on condition of anonymity on Sunday.
The central banker said they also sent letters to The Registrar of Joint Stock Companies And Firms (RJSC) and Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) for the purposes of name clearance purpose and securities regulator's approval respectively.
"We'll probably get name clearance from the RJSC by today (Monday) while the BSEC is expected to give its consent very soon," the central banker informed.
Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Ahsan H Mansur also held a meeting with Finance Adviser Salehuddin Ahmed in this regard. Secretary of the Financial Institutions Division (FID) under the Ministry of Finance Nazma Mobarek will lead the seven-member board of the proposed largest Islami Bank.
Six other nominated board members are: secretary of the Finance Division Md Khairuzzaman Mozumder, secretary of the Chief Adviser's Office M Saifullah Panna, secretary of the Ministry of Religious Affairs Md Kamal Uddin, secretary of the Economic Relations Division Md Shahriar Kader Siddiky, joint secretary of the Finance Division Md Rashedul Amin and FID's joint secretary Sheikh Farid.
Of the 20 billion shares, six nominated directors will hold one share each while FID's secretary will get the remaining shares of the proposed state-owned unconventional bank.
According to the BB merger-related roadmap, the proposed new bank will have a paid-up capital amounting to Tk 350 billion, of which the government will provide Tk 200 billion as equity. And the remaining Tk 150 billion would come from the deposit-insurance trust fund and institutional deposits.
The combined non-performing loans (NPLs) of the five banks are around Tk 1.47 trillion, which accounts for 77 per cent of their total loan disbursements.
Union Bank shares the highest percentage of such dud money at 98 per cent, followed by First Security Islami Bank (96 per cent), Global Islami Bank (95 per cent), Social Islami Bank (62 per cent) and EXIM Bank (48 per cent).
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