Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – New private commercial banks (PCBs) may get approval at Sunday’s board of directors’ meeting of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country’s central bank, officials said.
The board on Wednesday approved three new commercial banks sponsored by non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) on the condition that those would contribute to boosting the inflow of foreign exchange.
The meeting of the BB board has, however, been adjourned until 1:30 pm on April 8 (Sunday) for taking the final decision on approval of other private commercial banks (PCBs), sponsored by local entrepreneurs.
“The board will take the final decision on other PCBs Sunday next after a thorough scrutiny of applications one by one,” Deputy Governor of the BB SK Sur Chowdhury told reporters after the meeting.
The board could not complete analysis of all the 16 short-listed applications for setting up of new PCBs, a BB senior official said, adding that the names of 19 proposed commercial banks, including three NRB banks, were placed before the board at its meeting on Wednesday, for final approval.
Earlier, 37 applications were submitted with the central bank for setting up of new PCBs. Of them, 21 were rejected by a preliminary committee mainly due to lack of necessary papers and documents.
Currently, a total of 47 commercial banks are in operation in Bangladesh.
BBN/SSR/AD-04Apr12-11:59 pm (BST)
