Bangladesh Bank (BB) today relaxed the down payment requirements for exit facilities on defaulted loans of closed or loss-incurring companies.

At the end of 2024, one-fifth of the total loans in the banking sector turned into bad loans, mainly because the true extent of fund embezzlement by willful defaulters is now coming to light

Bangladesh Bank will soon announce its monetary policy for the second half of the ongoing fiscal year (2024-25) with the aim of addressing several economic challenges plaguing the country.

Defaulted loans at six private commercial banks nearly tripled in one year till September 2024, according to central bank data, which bankers term “alarming”.

Awami League-affiliated businesses had already put the country’s banking sector in trouble with huge bad debts, but the loans disbursed through irregularities to these companies turned sour even at a more alarming pace after the party’s ouster.

Bangladesh Bank yesterday unveiled the latest iteration of its exit policy that offers borrowers the option to close off their loan account within three years by paying only 10 percent as down payment and no interest.

The banking sector’s defaulted loans soared 20.7 percent to Tk 145,633 crore in 2023 as both governance and accountability continue to get looser.

The state-owned bank's failure to meet any of the performance targets set by the central bank raises a red flag.

Janata Bank has failed to meet any of its performance improvement targets set by the central bank in the first half of the year -- a worrying development given that the state bank accounts for the second-highest volume of deposits and loans among the 61 scheduled lenders in Bangladesh.

It is alleged that a group of politically-connected people took out large loans from state-owned commercial banks (SOCBs) and intentionally defaulted on them.

The International Monetary Fund has identified the problems in the banking system, including the high volume of defaulted loans, as one of the three domestic risks that derail the economy in the short- to medium-term.

Let’s think of some out-of-the-box ways to tackle even the most formidable of problems.

Defaulted loans soared to Tk 110,874 crore as of March this year, the highest ever in the country.