The Premier Bank PLC, a listed company on the stock market, is facing mounting financial pressure due to a massive provision shortfall, capital deficiency, and high exposure to classified loans, according to its audited financial statements for 2025.

The bank’s auditor highlighted these concerns under the “Emphasis of Matter” and “Other Matter” sections of the audit report.

According to the report, Premier Bank’s total loans and advances stood at Tk 33,500.83 crore as of December 31, 2025. Of this amount, classified loans totaled Tk 10,389.39 crore. Against these risky loans, the required provision was Tk 7,286.13 crore, while the bank maintained only Tk 1,196.57 crore, resulting in a provision shortfall of Tk 6,089.56 crore.

The report also revealed that unclassified loans and advances amounted to Tk 23,111.44 crore. Required provisions for these loans were Tk 2,684.79 crore, but the bank set aside only Tk 397.93 crore, creating an additional shortfall of Tk 2,286.86 crore.

In addition, provisions against other assets were significantly inadequate. The required provision stood at Tk 1,629.08 crore, while only Tk 408.41 crore was maintained, leaving a deficit of Tk 1,220.67 crore.

The audit report further noted that Premier Bank holds a 99.99 percent stake in its subsidiary, Premier Bank Securities Limited, which recorded a cumulative loss of Tk 38 crore as of December 31, 2025. However, the bank did not recognize any impairment loss against this investment in its standalone financial statements.

Additional provision deficits were also identified in gratuity funds, off-balance sheet items, and share investments amounting to Tk 18.52 crore, Tk 94.52 crore, and Tk 10.88 crore respectively.

Overall, the bank’s total provision shortfall reached Tk 9,799.26 crore. Despite this, Bangladesh Bank allowed the bank to finalize its 2025 financial statements without adjusting the shortfall through a letter issued on April 27, 2026.

The audit report also highlighted severe capital inadequacy. Under the Bank Company Act and Basel-III guidelines, Premier Bank was required to maintain capital of Tk 4,495.07 crore by the end of 2025. In contrast, the bank reported negative capital of Tk 4,835.14 crore, implying an actual capital shortfall of Tk 9,330.21 crore.

Furthermore, while the minimum Capital to Risk-Weighted Assets Ratio (CRAR) requirement is 12.50 percent, the bank reported a CRAR of around 5.70 percent. The auditors noted that if the full provision shortfall were considered, the CRAR would fall to negative 13.45 percent.

Under the “Other Matter” section, the auditors also pointed out that the bank failed to fully disclose related-party transactions and relationships as required under International Accounting Standard (IAS)-24, except for the information mentioned in Note 3.10 of the financial statements.