Bangladesh to get 10 full-fledged Islamic banks as Standard, NRB Global set to convert – media

Bangladesh will get two more Islamic banks as Standard Bank and NRB Global are set to become full-fledged Shariah-compliant, taking the total to ten, reported local media on Monday (Feb 10).

The Daily Star and Dhaka Tribune both reported that Bangladesh Bank (BB), the central bank, approved on Sunday proposals from the two private banks to become fully Islamic.

No timeline was given for the conversion of the two banks.

At the end of September 2019, the country of around 164 million people had 8 full-fledged Islamic banks, 9 conventional commercial banks with 19 Islamic banking branches, and 8 conventional commercial banks that provide Islamic financial services, according to data from the central bank.

The full-fledged Islamic banks are Islami Bank Bangladesh, ICB Islamic Bank, Social Islami Bank, Al-Arafah Islami Bank, EXIM Bank, Shahjalal Islami Bank, First Security Islami Bank, and Union Bank.

Islamic banking market share at the end of September 2019 was 23.98% for deposits and 24.59% for financing, according to central bank data.

Deposits stood at 2,621,109.26 million taka ($30.87 billion) and financing reached 2,503,229.37 million taka.

The sector had 1,301 bank branches and employed 36,337 at the end of September.

($1 = 84.92 Bangladeshi taka)

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