Deposit growth of shariah-based banks in Bangladesh plunged in 2022 mainly due to lower confidence among savers after a number of scams in the sector were unearthed by the central bank.

Investments made by full-fledged Islamic banks in Bangladesh surged nearly nine times their deposits in a span of a year, raising questions as private sector credit growth has slowed in the entire banking sector, official figures showed.  

Most of the Shariah-compliant banks in Bangladesh clocked higher profits in 2022 despite a fall in deposits and the unprecedented fund withdrawal by customers and liquidity crunch.