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Bankers are now given until next March to downsize the classified-loan buildups in the banking sector below 25 per cent through prompt delivery of government policy concessions for struggling businesses.
The central bank made the directive to top executives in the country's all commercial banks for such time-bound action at a special bankers' conclave Sunday at the Bangladesh Bank headquarters, according to meeting insiders.
While spelling out the firman, the Bangladesh Bank governor, Dr Ahsan H. Mansur, also appreciated the bankers' efforts in bringing down non-performing loan (NPL) loads below 31 per cent until December last banking on various regulatory interventions like policy support and partial write-off facilities from the September count of 35.73 per cent.
Bankers' meeting with the central bank high-ups usually takes place every three months to discuss current issues focusing on policy, innovation, strategy, performance review and professional development to address industry challenges and growth in Bangladesh's evolving financial sector. But the last bankers' meet was held just early December last.
Seeking anonymity, a BB official who attended the meeting said this was a special bankers' meeting where exigent issues like NPLs, inflation, policy rate and upcoming referendum were discussed.
Quoting the central bank's governor, the central banker said the commercial banks using almost half of existing policy supports and other facilities managed to bring down the ratio of NPLs significantly by the end of last month.
"The governor instructed the bankers to further intensify their efforts to bring it down to 25 per cent by March next," he told The Financial Express.
Contacted over what transpired at the meet, chairman of the Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB), the apex body of the country's commercial bank executives, Mashrur Arefin said the meeting was "good and very time-befitting one".
Sharing current state of the NPL-which had surged largely for banking degeneration in the recent past--the banker said the governor hailed the commercial banks for cutting NPLs down to 30.46 per cent until December last from 35.73 per cent recorded by September 2025.
If the NPLs of the merged five Islamic banks are considered, the ratio of the classified loans in the banking system is now 24.53, the ABB chief said, citing the central bank statistics.
Also, the seasoned banker said, the commercial banks were asked for giving serious attention in terms of lending for agriculture, small and macro-segment borrowers alongside school banking in the coming days.
Mr. Arefin, also managing director and chief executive officer of City Bank PLC, said the banking regulator wants to liberalise the market by facilitating outbound investment on a small scale and inbound investment here.
"The BB is planning to revive the foreign-exchange regulation act (FERA) soon," he added.
Managing director and chief executive officer of Mutual Trust Bank (MTB) PLC Syed Mahbubur Rahman said the issue of inflation and policy rate also figured high during discussion.
As the inflation keeps rising in very recent months, he says, the governor made a hint that the policy rate might remain unchanged in the coming monetary policy statement (MPS) for the last half in this FY'26.
According to the BB, the upcoming MPS is expected to be disclosed on January 29.
According to the meeting sources, the possibility of facilitating yes-vote campaigning by the banks in the upcoming referendum was also discussed.
Simultaneously, according to them, the issue of relaxing single-borrower exposure limit for the LPG importers for a short period of time, considering the current market crisis, was also discussed.
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