Bangladesh Bank will focus on five merger or amalgamation proposals it has already received and not accept any other proposals for the time.

The government should come up with a clear guideline complying with the global best practices before compelling banks to merge, the World Bank has said.

Initially, it is the general stock investors who might be at the receiving end of the process while the loan defaulters, whose misdeeds are largely responsible for Padma Bank’s current misfortunes, might come out victorious.

The news that Shariah-based Exim Bank is going to merge with troubled commercial lender Padma Bank has taken the financial sector of Bangladesh by surprise.