Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Ahsan H. Mansur has said some weak banks will merge and customers will get their deposits back in phases.

“The central bank will give back the depositors’ money or bonds against the deposited money in the S Alam related weak banks, but it required time,” he said while speaking as the chief guest at a workshop on ‘Microfinance in Bangladesh’ organised by the Microcredit Regulatory Authority (MRA).

Dr. Mansur said this in reply to a query from a top official of a Micro Finance Institution (MFI), who made FDR in S Alam Group-owned bank but did not return the money despite matured the tenure.

The Governor said, “I have been personally saying for the last 10 years that you should not keep money in S Alam's bank. But you have kept the money. They have given two percent more interest, and you have kept the money there; now you have been caught. You will get your deposited money back, but you will have to give some time for this. This money will be returned in stages.”

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Dr. Mansur said, "Now we will rescue you; but that is not possible right now. We will do it step by step; we will have to give time for this. We are moving towards the ‘Bank Resolution Act’, and some banks will have to be merged. Many things can be done and will be done. Maybe many things will be done this year. All I can say is, you get money, and you get bonds, you will get something."

The program was held at the CIRDAP auditorium in the capital on Tuesday. The event was presided over by MRA Executive Vice Chairman Mohammad Helal Uddin and was attended by Financial Institutions Division Secretary Nazma Mobarek and Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) Managing Director (MD) Md. Fazlul Kader.