Banks face pressure as customers withdraw cash before Eid

FE Team | Published: August 31, 2017 00:52:32

Banks saw a significant rush of clients withdrawing cash to meet their festival-related expenditures ahead of the three-day Eid-ul-Azha vacation beginning from tomorrow (Friday).
Over the last two days, the banks in the metropolis were packed with clients withdrawing money, especially remittances, reports BSS.
Expatriates generally send a large amount of money to their relatives before Eid-ul-Azha for purchasing animals to be sacrificed in the name of Allah, said an official of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL).
"On Wednesday, we received US$18.13 million remittance from different countries, including the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Today, we have already received $11.90 million until 2.30 pm, which is likely to cross yesterday's amount at the end of the day," he added.
On Wednesday, he said, the bank received $5.56 million from the KSA and $1.90 million from the UAE. This month, IBBL has already received $286 million in remittances from expatriate Bangladeshis, he added.
According to the latest data of Bangladesh Bank, the country has already received $1,039.11 million in remittances from expatriate Bangladeshis in the first 25 days of the month.
While visiting different bank branches in the capital on Wednesday, it was found that bank officials were facing difficulties in handling large number of clients, who were waiting in queues before the cash counters for transactions.
Talking to the news agency, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Mutual Trust Bank (MTB) Anis A Khan said branches were packed with customers as they wanted to complete their transactions ahead of Eid-ul-Azha.
"We had earlier taken all sorts of measures, including storing of sufficient cash, to tackle the crowd before Eid and, therefore, so we did not face any difficulties," he added.
"There were huge transactions, especially by the individuals, in the branch over the last two days. A large number of clients queued in the cash transaction section today," said Abdul Baten Chowdhury, head of the principal branch of the Southeast Bank. "And major chunk of over Taka 50 crore (500 million) trasacted today is remittances."
He said expatriate Bangladeshis were sending huge remittances ahead of Eid as the bank had received about Taka 1.6 billion on Wednesday from different countries, especially the Middle East and Malaysia.
Cash transactions by the clients rose over the last few days and the clients transacted about Taka 60 million on Wednesday, said ABM Eradul Islam, executive vice-president and head of Motijheel Branch of Mercantile Bank Limited (MBL).
"We had preparations to tackle the heavy pressure in the last few days and the transactions are likely to increase tomorrow, the last working day before the Eid," he added.
"I have been standing in the queue for about half an hour to complete my transaction," said M Ashraf Uddin, who was to withdraw money from the South East Bank Principal branch to meet expenditures during Eid.
Similar rushes were also seen in almost all the bank branches at Motijheel and Dilkusha areas on Wednesday.