Next week, deposits made by clients of five Merged Islamic banks will be repaid. Under the deposit insurance plan, clients will initially be permitted to withdraw up to BDT 200,000 at a time.

During the tenure of the previous Awami League government, several influential groups fraudulently took large amounts of loans from dozens of banks. Due to these irregularities and loan scandals, the banks gradually fell into a deep financial crisis. Amid this situation, the central bank approved the merger of five troubled banks to form the “United Islamic Bank.”

The banks are: EXIM Bank, Social Islami Bank, First Security Islami Bank, Global Islami Bank, and Union Bank.

A Bangladesh Bank official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the complexities in the deposit repayment process have been resolved. As a result, it is expected that the banks will start disbursing funds from next week, specifically from Monday or Tuesday. These payments will be made under the deposit insurance scheme.

Customers will be able to withdraw money from their respective bank branches. However, if a customer has multiple accounts in the same bank, they will be able to withdraw money from only one account. If a customer has accounts in multiple banks, they will be eligible to withdraw the prescribed amount from each bank.

A relevant central bank official said that customers with balances of BDT 200,000 or less will be able to withdraw their entire amount at once after the scheme comes into effect. Those with balances exceeding BDT 200,000 will be able to withdraw up to BDT 100,000 every three months for a period of up to two years.

However, this limit has been relaxed for customers over the age of 60 and for depositors suffering from cancer or other critical illnesses—they will be able to withdraw any amount as needed.

According to Bangladesh Bank data, the five banks currently hold deposits of approximately BDT 1.42 trillion from 7.5 million depositors. In contrast, the total outstanding loans amount to BDT 1.93 trillion, a large portion of which has already become non-performing.

Across the country, these banks have 760 branches, 698 sub-branches, 511 agent banking outlets, and 975 ATM booths. After the merger, multiple branches in the same area will be consolidated into one or two. To reduce operating costs, employee salaries and benefits have already been cut by 20 percent.