S Alam Group Alone Took Over 50pc Of Islami Bank loans: New Chairman

The S Alam Group companies alone have taken more than half of the total loans of Islami Bank, recovering which is a challenge for the bank, said Md Obayed Ullah Al Masud, the bank's newly appointed chairman.

Al Masud said this to reporters, after attending a meeting with Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Dr Ahsan H Mansur on Thursday.

He said the total disbursed loans of Islami Bank is around Tk1.75 lakh crore. Of which S Alam Group alone took more than half or Tk87,500 crore.

But it is not the final figure; another week is needed to get the complete information, he said.

“The group depreciated the assets and took out the debt. His assets are already being reassessed. Also, the collaterals against the loan will not be covered. Therefore, a letter has been written to the Law Ministry to find out the assets that are outside the collateral,” said the Islami Bank chairman.

He said, when the new board took over, Tk2,300 crore was short and it is decreasing every day.

“Till today (Thursday) it has reduced to Tk2,000 crore. Hopefully, the capital dynamics will return to a positive trend within this year. Many customers will not have the problem of withdrawing money after today. Because the withdrawals are less than the amount deposited in the last week,” he pointed out.

When asked what kind of action was being taken against various officials, who have cooperated with S Alam, he said, "We do not want to remove/ transfer the officials right now. Because, if you hit the bottom now, everything will collapse. Some of those at the top are already being removed. All the scammers will be removed gradually. Action will be taken according to rules. No one will be exempted."

The new chairman of Islami Bank said that a roadmap has been prepared to revive the bank. This roadmap has three phases: First of all determining and implementing various remedial steps before year-end. Secondly, the fiscal year 2025-26 would be prioritised as the turnaround year. Thirdly, fiscal year 2027-29 will be the leap forward years.