Sammilito Islami Bank PLC will gradually assume the responsibilities of five Islami banks that have been merged. However, no specific timetable has yet been set for the transfer of responsibilities.
The board of directors of Sammilito Islami Bank will review the financial and operational status of each bank and then take over responsibilities step by step. Once a bank’s responsibility is transferred, the central bank will withdraw its administrators from that bank.
The decision was made at a meeting held Monday evening from 6:30pm to 10pm at Bangladesh Bank headquarters. Governor Md Mostakur Rahman, officials of the Bank Resolution Department (BRD), and the chairman, board members, and managing director (MD) of Sammilito Islami Bank attended the meeting.
Bangladesh Bank’s assistant spokesperson Mohammad Shahriar Siddiqui confirmed the information to TIMES of Bangladesh.
The board of Sammilito Islami Bank will first hold separate meetings with administrators of the five banks. After assessing each bank’s financial condition, operational readiness, and progress in restructuring, the board will decide which bank’s responsibility to take over first.
Based on this evaluation, the Sammilito bank will inform Bangladesh Bank of the timetable for responsibility transfer. The central bank will then withdraw administrators only from the bank whose responsibility has been handed over to the new board. Administrators will not be withdrawn simultaneously from all five banks.
The governor held separate meetings with administrators of the five banks on Sunday. He asked whether removing administrators from their duties would cause complications.
The administrators replied they were ready to leave whenever Bangladesh Bank instructed, and in the same meeting they presented the current status, restructuring progress, and existing challenges of their respective banks. Several administrators confirmed this to TIMES.
According to multiple sources involved in the restructuring process, each of the five banks currently has one administrator working with four associates meaning each bank’s restructuring is being managed by a five‑member team.
Due to long‑standing irregularities, default loans, liquidity crises, and operational weaknesses, extensive work remains unfinished in these banks.
Sources expressed concern over how effectively a single board of directors could oversee and restructure five troubled banks at once. They also warned that this might slow down the operations of Sammilito Islami Bank itself.
Exim Bank, Social Islami Bank, First Security Islami Bank, Global Islami Bank, and Union Bank — all facing deposit crises — were recently merged to form Sammilito Islami Bank PLC.
The new bank began operations with authorized capital of Tk350 billion. The government has already provided Tk200 billion in capital support, of which Tk100 billion is being used to repay small depositors in phases, while the remaining Tk100 billion has been invested in government sukuk bonds.
Meanwhile, several technical tasks, including IT integration, have not yet been completed. As a result, foreign transactions and some other operations are still being conducted under the names of the five former banks.
