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The number of scheduled banks reached 60 as the central bank issued licence to Bengal Commercial Bank Ltd on Sunday.
"We've issued licence to Bengal Commercial Bank in line with the decision taken by our board of directors," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.
Earlier on February 09, the BB board of directors gave its final approval to the proposed Bengal Commercial Bank, asking the lender to increase its paid-up capital to Tk 5.0 billion within two years.
The new private commercial bank (PCB) has now been empowered to take preparations to start their business, according to the central banker.
"The PCB will have to take another licence for establishing its branches," he said while replying to a query.
The central bank issued a notification in this regard on Sunday with inclusion of the name of Bengal Commercial Bank Ltd as a scheduled bank.
The sponsors are now trying to start operations of the PCB as early as possible, banking sector insiders said.
"We expect that our bank will start operations formally by June, 2020," Jasim Uddin, chairman of Bengal Commercial Bank, told the FE.
Mr. Jasim, also vice chairman of Bengal Group of Industries, said appointment of top executives including managing director will be discussed in the first board of directors meeting scheduled to be held by the end of this month.
After Awami League formed the government in 2009, nine banks were given the green light on 'political consideration' despite opposition from different quarters.
Shimanto Bank Limited, owned by BGB Welfare Trust, was offered the licence in 2016.
Two years later, the BB board gave the final approval to Community Bank Bangladesh Limited.
Currently, there are 60 banks in Bangladesh, of which 42 are local private banks, nine are foreign, and nine are state-owned lenders.