A queue jam prompts the central bank to plan a pause in taking fresh merger proposals in Bangladesh's banking industry before completion of the existing bids for strong-weak amalgamation.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) spokesperson Md Mezbaul Haque shared the information regarding the current wave of bank mergers and acquisitions while talking to reporters after the Eid holiday.
"We've received five voluntarily merger proposals so far and we decided not to take any further application on merger, for the time being, before completion of the proposed mergers," he said.
The BB spokesperson said the BB now pays serious focus on completing the five proposals regarding the planned mergers.
The issue of mergers in banks hit the headlines after the unconventional EXIM Bank decided to take crisis-ridden Padma Bank last month, in the process of financial-sector reforms.
Thereafter, the state-run Sonali Bank plans to acquire Bangladesh Development Bank Ltd (BDBL) and Bangladesh Krishi Bank (BKB) wants to take over Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RAKUB).
On the other hand, private commercial City Bank proposes to acquire state-run BASIC Bank while United Commercial Bank plans to buy out problematic National Bank.
The central bank, as part of government's financial-sector reform recipe, initiated the mergers and acquisitions asking the banks for voluntarily mergers within this year to avert forced mergers.
The central bank will enforce forced mergers from March next year after assessing performances of the banks based on PCA (prompt corrective action) framework.
jubairfe1980@gmail.com