Over the first two days of deposit refund operations, 13,896 customers withdrew a total of Tk577 crore from Sammilito Islami Bank PLC. On Tuesday, the second day of the operations, 7,896 customers withdrew Tk327 crore.
This marked an increase from Monday, the first day of the refund programme, when the bank returned Tk250 crore to 6,000 customers. Consequently, the second day saw 1,896 more customers withdrawing funds compared to the first, with the total withdrawal amount rising by Tk77 crore.
Sammilito Islami Bank, formed by merging five Shariah-based banks, commenced refunding depositors on Monday, alongside launching its online fund transfer services. Customers of the five banks, which had been suffering from a prolonged liquidity crisis, were previously unable to withdraw their deposits according to their needs.
To facilitate the process, Sammilito Islami Bank received applications from interested depositors between 1 and 6 September. During this period, 74,211 depositors applied to withdraw a total of Tk3,925 crore.
However, the entire applied amount is not leaving the bank at once. The bank’s Managing Director, Md Abedur Rahman Sikdar, previously explained that many customers who applied did not turn up to withdraw their money. Following communication from the bank, some depositors decided to keep their money in the bank, while others withdrew their funds only to re-deposit them later.
To ensure that no customer returns empty-handed, Bangladesh Bank has allocated Tk5,000 crore to Sammilito Islami Bank specifically for refunding depositors.
Sammilito Islami Bank was established by merging First Security Islami Bank, Social Islami Bank, Union Bank, Global Islami Bank, and Exim Bank. The 761 branches of these five banks continue to be operated separately.
The then interim government initiated the merger of these five troubled banks after the fall of the Awami League government in August 2024.
