TBT DESK: Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Dr Ahsan H Mansur on Tuesday assured depositors that they would get their money back from weak banks.
"I assure that you will get your money or bonds back in phases," he said while speaking as the chief guest at a workshop on microfinance at the CIRDAP auditorium in the city.
Mansur said he had repeatedly warned against depositing funds in certain banks over the past decade.
"I have been advising for the past ten years not to keep money in S Alam's banks, but many chose to deposit there for an extra two percent profit," he said.
Ahsan H Mansur stated that the next five years will be increasingly challenging for microfinance institutions.
"Currently, there are 24,000 branches of microfinance institutions across the country, while banks have around 24,000 agent banking outlets. In the next five years, banks are expected to increase their agent banking outlets to around 60,000", he added.
He highlighted the growing competition for microcredit institutions, noting that mobile financial service (MFS) providers are now offering loans and collecting deposits. Additionally, the emergence of digital banks will pose a new challenge for microfinance institutions, he added.
The governor also mentioned that in the 2023-24 fiscal year, microfinance institutions disbursed loans worth Tk 3 lakh crore, marking a 5.26% increase from the previous year.