Ahsanul Haque Tanvir, a customer of First Security Islami Bank’s (FSIBL) Topkhana Road branch, repeatedly visited the bank over the past one and a half years to withdraw his deposit of Tk 48 lakh, but in vain. On Monday, he finally withdrew the full amount from his savings account.
“Getting my own money back today felt like winning a prize. Despite having money in the bank, I had to borrow money to make ends meet over the past one and a half years,” Tanvir told The Daily Star after receiving the money.
Like Tanvir, there were 5,531 elated and relieved customers of FSIBL, Global Islami Bank, Union Bank, EXIM Bank and Social Islami Bank (SIBL), as Sammilito Islami Bank, formed last year through the merger of the five troubled Islamic banks, began repaying depositors yesterday.
Some Tk 254 crore was returned to customers yesterday, said Abedur Rahman Sikder, managing director and chief executive officer of Sammilito Islami Bank.
Depositors of the five crisis-hit banks had been struggling to withdraw their money for more than two years and staged protests demanding the return of their deposits.
On August 25, Bangladesh Bank Governor Md Mostaqur Rahman announced that individual depositors would be allowed to withdraw the principal amount of their deposits according to their needs from September 1.
Following the announcement, Sammilito Islami Bank began accepting applications from customers and continued the process until Sunday.
Since then, around 75,000 customers have applied to withdraw their deposits, seeking a total of Tk 3,925 crore, bank officials said.
Only customers who applied on September 1 were able to withdraw money on Monday. Those who applied later will receive their money in phases, officials said.
BB provided Tk 5,000 crore on Sunday to facilitate payments to customers of the five banks.
According to the latest information, except one or two branches customers across the country were able to withdraw their money smoothly, bank officials said.
The bank called all customers who applied to withdraw money and asked them to come to their branches, said its MD Abedur.
“Not everyone came to withdraw their money. This itself is evidence that customers’ confidence in the bank is returning,” he said, adding that everyone who came to withdraw money was paid.
He could not immediately provide details on how many customers withdrew money on Monday or the total amount disbursed.
A visit by The Daily Star to several branches of the five merged banks found little rush among customers.
At around noon, only five to six customers were seen at SIBL’s corporate branch in Motijheel. Some had come for regular banking transactions, while others were there to submit applications or withdraw deposits they had previously been unable to access.
Bank officials were returning customers’ money in a festive atmosphere, greeting some of them with flowers.
Sadrul Amin, a customer of the branch, said he had submitted his application on September 1 and came on Monday to withdraw the profit from his deposit.
He did not withdraw the entire deposit because he would not receive the profit if he withdrew the money before maturity.
“Even after hearing that deposits would be repaid, customers did not rush to withdraw their money. So, I thought confidence in the bank would return. That is why I did not withdraw the entire amount,” he said.
Mohammad Abdullah Al Mamun, manager of the branch, said around 40 applications had been received in recent days, many from customers seeking only to withdraw their profits.
Of them, only six to seven customers came yesterday to withdraw money, he said.
There was also little crowd at the Kakrail branch of FSIBL yesterday afternoon.
Masud Rana, the branch’s operations manager, said only customers who submitted applications on September 1 are being paid.
Some Tk 40 lakh was paid to nine customers.
“We will gradually return money to customers according to their demand in this manner,” he said, adding that the bank is also calling customers who had submitted applications.
However, some of them are withdrawing the money and then depositing it back, Rana said.
At FSIBL’s Topkhana Road branch, depositor Lutfun Nahar withdrew Tk 5 lakh in profit from her fixed deposit on Monday.
“I feel very relieved to have been able to withdraw the money,” she said, adding that she did not break her fixed deposit.
Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/news/bangladesh/news/depositors-five-troubled-banks-getting-money-back-4267586
