The much-talked–about proposed Sammilito Islami Bank to be formed through merger of five severely liquidity-starving unconventional banks will be launched this week, Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Dr. Ahsan H. Mansur informed.

Speaking as the chief guest at 4th Bangladesh Economic Conference 2025, he said five struggling Islamic banks are being merged into the country’s biggest commercial bank called Sammilito Islami Bank under the bank resolution ordinance.

“This newborn bank will be launching next week (it will start from today),” he told the audience at the conference hosted by Bangla business daily Banik Barta at a city hotel on Saturday.

It is known that meeting of the reconstituted 7-member board is set to be held today (Sunday) where the licensing formalities could be completed.

The central bank governor said the paid-up capital of the stated-run unconventional bank will be Tk 350 billion, which will be the highest in the banking history in Bangladesh. Currently, the bank having the highest paid-up capital is Tk 150 billion.

“We want to make a strong Islamic bank and the government will inject (equity investment) Tk 200 billion,” he said.

Terming mammoth NPLs (non-performing loans) buildup a serious problem the banking industry faces, the BB governor said I thought the sector’s NPL ratio would be around 25 per cent two years ago when the then central bank regime was claiming 8.0 per cent.

“Now we see it is 35 per cent (35.73 per cent in exact). It is more than one-third of the total disbursed loan. Banks are being run with only two-third of the assets,” he told the conference that was moderated by Banik Barta editor Dewan Hanif Mahmud.

Mr. Mansur, who took the central bank leadership after the changeover on state power following last year’s mass uprising, said the banking sector will need 5 to 10 years to recover from the burden of mounting bad loans.