Overall banking sector defaulted loans rise by 16708cr in Jan-Sept
The scam-hit BASIC Bank topped the list of banks that accumulated highest defaulted loans of in the first nine months of 2014 as the overall defaulted loan in the banking sector soared by Tk 16,707.88 crore during the period. According to the Bangladesh Bank data released on Sunday, the defaulted loans at BASIC Bank increased by Tk 4,865.56 crore to Tk 6,148.13 crore as of September 30, 2014 from Tk 1,282.57 crore as of December 31, 2013 while overall defaulted loans in the banking sector increased to Tk 57,290.89 crore from Tk 40,583.01 crore.
Islami Bank followed BASIC Bank with its defaulted loans rising by Tk 1,504.2 crore in nine months.
A BB official told New Age on Sunday that the defaulted loans at BASIC Bank had increased in the first nine months of this year as the previous board of directors had sanctioned credit proposals indiscriminately, violating rules and regulations.
BB inspection teams earlier unearthed that three BASIC Bank branches — Gulshan, Shantinagar and Dilkusha — disbursed more than Tk 4,500 crore to some little-known companies as per direction given by the board.
The bank is yet to recover the loans from the little-known companies resulting that the defaulted loans at the bank increased significantly between January and September of 2014, the BB official said.
The BB recently unearthed more scams at different banks that fuelled the classified loans in the banking sector in the first nine months.
Besides, a number of businesspeople, who were allowed to reschedule their loans on the ground of pre-polls political unrest, became defaulters again in the recent months.
The BB official said that sluggish business activities amid political uncertainty had also caused loans defaulting as the businesspeople failed to pick up their production that put an adverse impact on their loan repayment.
The classified loans reached 11.60 per cent of the total outstanding loans of Tk 4,93,752.77 crore in the banking sector as of September 30, 2014, the BB data showed.
As of December 31, 2013, it was 8.93 per cent of the total outstanding loans of Tk 4,54,435.26 crore and 10.75 per cent of the total outstanding loans of Tk 4,77,436.94 crore in the banking sector as of June 30, 2014.
Of the total classified loans, those of the four state-owned banks — Sonali, Janata, Agrani and Rupali — rose by Tk 4,190.84 crore in the first nine months of 2014.
The classified loans in the SCBs increased to Tk 20,797.09 crore as of September 30, 2014 from Tk 16,606.25 crore as of December 31, 2013.
The classified loans in the private commercial banks rose by Tk 7,878.23 crore during the period.
The total classified loans in the PCBs increased to Tk 22,193.89 crore as of September 30, 2014 from Tk 14,315.66 crore as of December 31, 2013.
The classified loans in the four specialised development banks rose by Tk 4,304.25 crore in the first nine months of 2014.
The total classified loans in the banks soared to Tk 12,661.81 crore as of September 30, 2014 from Tk 8,357.56 crore as of December 31, 2013.
The classified loans in the nine foreign commercial banks increased by Tk 334.55 crore in January-September of 2014.
The total classified loans in the banks increased to Tk 1,638.10 crore as of September 30, 2014 from Tk 1,303.55 crore as of December 31, 2013.
The BB data showed that the overall shortfall in provision against general and defaulted loans in the banking sector stood at Tk 2,896.25 crore as of September 30, 2014 with eight banks failing to keep required provision in the period.
The eight banks which failed to keep required provision against loans are Sonali Bank, Rupali Bank, Bangladesh Commerce Bank, National Bank, Standard Bank, National Bank of Pakistan, Bangladesh Krishi Bank and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank.
Another BB official said that the provision shortfall in the banking sector had declined in the last quarter of 2013 as the banks had regularised huge amount of defaulted loans by using the central bank’s relaxed policy on the ground of pre-polls political unrest.
But, the defaulted loans in the banking sector rose in the first nine months of this year and hit the banks’ provision position, he said.
-With New Age input
