Exim Bank is reportedly failing to pay back money to depositors as the shariah-based private bank is now under the grip of an acute liquidity crisis.
Every day, depositors gather at the branches and ATM booths of cash-strapped banks, but are usually unable to get the amount of money they require. Even, many of the bank’s accountholders are returning empty-handed after submitting cheques to withdraw money.
Clients said that Exim Bank is reluctant to pay large sums of money raising various excuses including server problems. However, sometimes they are getting money if it is a small amount.
Exim Bank Managing Director Mohammad Feroz Hossain could not be reached for comments despite several attempts on his cell phone.
Regarding customers complain, the bank’s Motijheel branch manager Azhar Uddin said, “It is not true that we can’t pay … but there is some shortage of money in the ATM booths. It will take some time to fix”.
Exim Bank of Bangladesh PLC reported a staggering Tk 566 crore loss for the July-September quarter, as declining deposits and retained earnings plummeted its earnings.
The bank's consolidated loss per share hit Tk 3.91, a sharp downturn from the Tk 0.37 earnings per share it posted in the same period last year, according to a disclosure on the Dhaka Stock Exchange website.
Exim Bank was founded in 1999, and it transitioned to Shariah-based banking in 2004, positioning itself as a key player in corporate, cottage and micro industries, and agricultural finance.
Earlier, the central bank dissolved the board of the troubled bank and appointed a new five-member board.
This move ended the 16-year tenure of Nazrul Islam Mazumder as chairman, a position he had held since 2007.
Mazumder was arrested from Dhaka's Gulshan area recently after he was accused in several cases.
He was a close ally of Salman F Rahman, the Private Industry and Investment adviser to the deposed prime minister Sheikh Hasina, and other Awami League leaders.
Mazumder, also the founder of Nassa Group, has been serving the private bank owners’ forum, Bangladesh Association of Banks since 2009.
He was also the chairman of the Bankers Association of Bangladesh, a body representing bank owners, until his removal from EXIM Bank.
