B Mirror Desk : Due to the lack of final approval from Bangladesh Bank on their annual financial reports, 19 listed banks have not declared dividends even though they held board meetings at the conclusion of the fiscal year. Due to their inability to complete their 2024 accounting year financial reports, these capital market-listed banks were unable to prepare unaudited statements for the first quarter of 2025.
Investors are therefore kept in the dark about the banks’ year-end payouts and financial results.The most recent financial data is still inaccessible, as the third quarter reports were last available more than seven months ago.Officials from the central bank and the concerned institutions claim that a number of problems prevented the reports from being approved. These include failing to disclose the entire scope of such loans and making insufficient provisions against actual defaulted loans.
The delay was also attributed by officials to the absence of Ahsan H. Mansur, the head of Bangladesh Bank, who was out of the country until April 30.
When his office reopens, bankers will look to the governor for advice after he returned from a meeting with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the United States last Thursday.
“Ministry-level consent may also be necessary to avoid legal issues for the extended duration,” a central bank official told bdnews24.com. That might require a few more days.
The deadline for banks to complete their 2024 annual reports and announce dividends based on them was April 30.
As a result, board meetings for 17 of the 36 listed banks were set for the final day.
Many chose to have meetings in the late evening, but a number of them ended without decisions because, despite their best efforts, they were unable to get the central bank’s necessary No Objection Certificate (NOC).
In order to finalize the annual and Q1 reports, Islami Bank Bangladesh had originally planned its board meeting on April 28. The meeting was postponed for April 30 after failing to acquire the NOC. Due to the ongoing lack of permission, that session likewise ended without a decision. Omar Faruk Khan, acting managing director of Islami Bank, told bdnews24.com, “We hope to receive it.”
“We are unable to finalize the accounts without a NOC. We are powerless to speak if we are unable to finalize them. According to him, the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) and the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) have been informed of the situation. Jasim Uddin, the company secretary for AB Bank, echoed the same circumstance. “The central bank has not yet made a decision.
We were unable to present the accounts to the board since they were not authorized. The meeting will take place as soon as we have approval.
He claimed that BSEC had received a letter informing them of the situation.
Shahjahan Miah, the secretary of the Dhaka Bank Company, also affirmed that the board meeting was unable to make decisions.
The board meeting of EXIM Bank on April 30 ended without a decision either. “Once the central bank informs us, we will be able to make a judgment,” the bank’s chairman, Md. Nazrul Islam Swapan, told bdnews24.com.The meeting of Global Islami Bank took place on April 29.According to Manjur Hossain, its company secretary, they are currently awaiting orders from the central bank and were unable to decide on dividends because of the lack of approval.
