Four state-owned commercial banks recovered only Tk 212 crore, or 34.02 per cent, from their top 20 loan defaulters in the first six months of 2014 against the annual target of Tk 623 crore, the latest Bangladesh Bank data showed. The four banks – Sonali, Janata, Agrani and Rupali — fell way short of achieving their recovery target of the defaulted loans from their top 20 defaulters despite the central bank’s pressure, BB officials said.
The SCBs had recovered Tk 271 crore or 41.43 per cent from the top defaulters in the first six months of 2013 against the annual target of Tk 654 crore.
The central bank sets a recovery target of defaulted loans from the top 20 defaulters every year in line with the memorandum of understandings signed between the BB and the SCBs.
For 2014, the central bank set a defaulted loan recovery target of Tk 315 crore for Sonali Bank, but it recovered only Tk 73 crore in January-June of 2014 against Tk 83 crore it had recovered in the corresponding period of 2013.
Janata Bank recovered only Tk 21 crore from top 20 defaulters in the first half of 2014 against its annual target of Tk 120 crore. It had recovered Tk 59 crore in the same period a year ago.
Rupali Bank recovered Tk 14 crore in the first six months of 2014 against its annual target of Tk 38 crore. The bank had recovered Tk 83 crore from the top 20 defaulters in the first six months of 2013.
Agrani Bank, however, performed better than other three state-owned commercial banks as it recovered Tk 104 crore from top defaulters in the first six months of 2014 against its annual target of Tk 150 crore. The bank had recovered Tk 46 crore from the top defaulters in January-June of 2013.
A BB official told New Age on Sunday that the banks had frequently failed to recover the non-performing loans from the top defaulters as they (defaulters) filed petitions with courts to thwart the recovery process.
‘It’s a matter of shame that big loan defaulters foil loan-recovery by filing writ petitions with the High Court. Incredibly, small borrowers, despite being affected by political unrest, are repaying loans in recent periods,’ he said.
The central bank strongly recommended that the banks should appoint the best lawyers to fight against the defaulters in the court, he said.
The BB will set fresh measures for the SCBs in the next MoU meetings to be held this month in a bid to speed up the loan recovery programmes of the banks, he said.
Besides, the SCBs also failed to take proper initiative to recover the classified loans from the top defaulters due to lack of good governance, he said.
The overall defaulted loans at the banks increased significantly in the first six months of this year due to loan scams at the SCBs, the official said.
The classified loans in the SCBs increased to Tk 19,719.21 crore as of June 30, 2014 from Tk 16,606.25 crore as of December 31, 2013.
-With New Age input
