Sammilito Islami Bank PLC will start accepting applications from customers on Wednesday to withdraw their principal deposits, a day later than originally scheduled.
The bank was scheduled to begin accepting the applications from Tuesday. However, it has now deferred the process by a day to make necessary operational arrangements.
Individual account holders will be allowed to withdraw their entire principal deposits in a single transaction starting on September 7, following a fresh decision by the bank's management.
However, depositors opting to withdraw their full principal will not receive any profit on their funds.
The bank's head office issued a detailed directive, signed by Deputy Managing Director and Chief Coordinator of Operations AF Sabbir Ahmed, to all divisional heads, zonal heads and branch managers to ensure necessary operational arrangements.
While Bangladesh Bank had previously announced the resumption of normal transactions for individual customers starting on September 1, the bank requires a few additional days to finalise preparations.
These include sending cash requisitions to branches and sub-branches, ensuring adequate cash supply from the central bank, and establishing a risk-free cash management system. Consequently, the fully-fledged refund process will commence on September 7.
According to the directive, customers can withdraw their principal funds from Al-Wadia current accounts, Mudaraba savings accounts, and various term deposits, such as MTDR and DPS.
However, depositors who choose to keep their accounts active without withdrawing will continue to receive profits attheir pre-determined contractual rates.
Once the bank's overall operations fully resume, customers will be able to deposit and withdraw any amount, including profits.
Sammilito Islami Bank was formed during the interim government by merging EXIM Bank, Social Islami Bank, First Security Islami Bank, Global Islami Bank, and Union Bank. The merger took place after these institutions failed to return customer deposits for a prolonged period due to widespread financial irregularities and fraud.
The five merged banks hold Tk 1,42,000 crore belonging to approximately 76 lakh depositors, with about Tk 15,000 crore held in individual savings accounts.
A staggering 86 percent of the Tk 1,92,000 crore total loans across these banks are currently defaulted, resulting in a capital shortfall of over Tk 1.5 lakh crore.
Operating as a state-owned bank since November last year, Sammilito Islami Bank has an authorised capital of Tk 40,000 crore and a paid-up capital of Tk 35,000 crore. The government provided Tk 20,000 crore of the paid-up capital, while shares will be issued to depositors against the remaining Tk 15,000 crore.
END/UNB/AI/AM 2029 Hrs