Twelve out of 47 banks in the country held 72 per cent of classified loan or default loan of the banking sector as on September 31 of this year as they disbursed significant amount of loans unlawfully to the clients, said Bangladesh Bank officials.
According to the latest BB data, the classified loans in the 12 banks
reached Tk 25,969.80 crore which is 72 per cent of the total default loan of Tk 36,282.67 crore in the banking sector as on September 31.
The 12 banks including four state-owned banks and four specialised banks are — Sonali Bank, Janata Bank, Agrani Bank, Rupali Bank, Bangladesh Krishi Bank, Bangladesh Development Bank, Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank, BASIC Bank, Islami Bank Bangladesh, ICB Islamic Bank, National Bank and The City Bank.
Default loans in the 12 banks have increased by Tk 5,344.62 crore or 25.91 per cent in July to September from that of the second quarter of the current year, showed the BB data.
The classified loans in the 12 banks stood at Tk 20,625.18 crore as on 30 June but their default loans significantly increased in the third quarter because of the banks’ failure to recover a significant amount of loans, a BB official told New Age on Thursday.
BB data showed that the overall default loans in the banking sector had increased by Tk 7,281.77 crore at the end of the third quarter of this year. Of these, the classified loan in the 12 banks increased by 73.40 per cent or Tk 5,344.62 crore.
The total classified loan in the banking sector increased to Tk 36,282.67 crore as on September 30 from Tk 29,000.90 crore as on June 30.
Classified loans in the four SCBs increased to Tk 15,518.11 crore as on September 30 from Tk 11,772.27 crore as on June 30.
Classified loans of four specialised banks increased to Tk 6,426.81 crore as on September 30 from Tk 6,190.60 crore as on June 30.
Classified loans in the four other commercial banks out of 12 banks increased significantly in the period.
The BB official said the central bank had recently discovered a number of loan-related scams in some state-owned and private commercial banks.
After discovering the scams, the BB created pressure on the banks to classify the loans which were disbursed unlawfully.
A BB investigation revealed that Sonali Bank’s Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch lent Tk 3,606 crore to Hallmark Group
and five other companies between 2010 and May this year against fake LC documents.
The central bank official apprehended that the loans taken by the Hallmark Group might not be realised in the future.
A Sonali Bank official said that Tk 400 crore of Tk 3,606 crore had been classified in September.
He said the rest of the amount was likely to be classified by December this year.
Another BB official said the central bank had detected significant number of scams in other banks along with the Sonali Bank.
Under the circumstances, the classified loans in
the 12 banks soared significantly at the end of September, he said.