Govt okays 5 Shariah bank merger proposal

The Council of Advisers has approved a proposal to merge five financially troubled private Islamic Shariah-based banks into a single new entity. The decision was taken during a meeting of the Council held at the Chief Adviser’s Office in Tejgaon of Dhaka, chaired by CA Prof Muhammad Yunus, on Thursday, October 9. Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam shared the information at a press briefing later at the Foreign Service Academy. According to the announcement, the five banks to be merged are First Security Islami Bank, Global Islami Bank, Union Bank, EXIM Bank and Social Islami Bank. Although ICB Islamic Bank was initially included, it has been excluded from the merger due to an ongoing High Court case concerning share...