Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN)- The central bank of Bangladesh has asked four state-owned commercial banks (SoCBs) to gear up their recovery drives to ensure realisation of instalments of rescheduled loans properly.
The SoCBs have been instructed to take effective measures so that rescheduled loans do not turn into classified ones, officials said.
The instructions came at a meeting held at the Bangladesh Bank (BB) on Sunday to review the memoranda of understanding (MoUs) of the four SoCBs — Sonali Bank, Janata Bank, Agrani Bank and Rupali Bank — with BB Deputy Governor Abu Hena Mohammad Razee Hassan in the chair.
Excepting the Rupali Bank Limited, all other three SoCBs’ chief executive officers (CEOs)-cum-managing directors (MDs) were present at the meeting, while a deputy managing director of Rupali Bank attended it.
The central bank earlier signed the MoUs with the managements of the SoCBs to improve their financial performance by providing policy support.
The BB’s instructions came against the backdrop of a substantial amount of loan rescheduled by the SoCBs taking advantage of loan rescheduling policy relaxation.
On December 23 last year, the central bank relaxed the loan rescheduling policy for the next six months to facilitate financing for the businesses, affected by political unrest.
“The central bank has also asked the SoCBs to maintain loan growth ceiling properly,” a BB senior official told BBN in Dhaka after the meeting, adding that the BB has also instructed the banks for taking necessary measures to properly implement the existing core risk guidelines to minimise their financial risks.
The BB earlier identified six core risk areas in the country’s banking sector. The risk factors are: credit, asset and liability, foreign exchange, information technology, internal control and compliance, and money laundering.
BBN/SSR/AD-11May14-11:55 pm (BST)
