Scheduled banks’ capital decreased by Tk 616.39 crore to Tk 64,574.61 crore in the first quarter of 2014 from that of Tk 65,191 crore as of December 31, 2013 with eight banks including BASIC Bank failing to manage their minimum capital requirement. According to the latest Bangladesh Bank data released on Sunday, eight banks failed to keep minimum required capital in the first quarter of 2014 due to rising defaulted loans at the banks. The eight banks are Sonali Bank,  ,Rupali Bank  Bangladesh Commerce Bank, ICB Islamic Bank, National Bank of Pakistan, BASIC Bank, Bangladesh Krishi Bank and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank. The banks’ capital shortfall collectively stood at Tk 9,731.69 crore as of March 31, 2014. The BB data showed that the capital shortfall at BASIC Bank stood at Tk 1,036.95 crore as of March 31, 2014 from a shortfall of Tk 647 crore as of December 31, 2013, that of BKB at Tk 5,803.90 crore from a shortfall of Tk 5,764 crore, that of RAKUB at Tk 686.92 crore from a shortfall position of Tk 688 crore, that of BCBL at Tk 58.90 crore from a shortfall of Tk 77 crore, that of ICB Islamic Bank at Tk 1,407.97 crore from a shortfall of Tk 1,385 crore, and that of NPB Tk 180.73 crore from a shortfall of Tk 322 crore. The capital shortfall of state-owned Sonali and Rupali banks stood at Tk 278.43 crore and Tk 277.89 crore respectively as of March 31, 2014 although the two banks were able to maintain their required capital in the last quarter of 2013. As per international standards, every bank has to maintain capital adequacy ratio of 10 per cent. The CAR of the scheduled banks stood at 11.32 per cent at the end of March, which was 11.52 per cent three months ago. CAR is the ratio of a bank’s capital to its risk weighted assets. Due to the capital shortfall at the eight banks, the surplus capital in the banking sector decreased to Tk 2,377.74 crore in the first quarter of 2014 from Tk 3,355 crore as of December 31, 2013. A BB official told New Age on Sunday that the banks’ capital base in the first quarter of this year had declined due to rising defaulted loans. He said that the capital base in the banking sector had strengthened in the last quarter of 2013 as the banks rescheduled huge amount of defaulted loans due to a relaxed policy taken by the BB considering the political unrest in the run up to the January 5 national polls. But, a significant number of the rescheduled loans became defaulted loans again as the banks did not follow proper rules and regulations that put an adverse impact on the banks’ capital position, he said. The BB data showed that defaulted loans in the banking sector increased to Tk 48,172.16 crore as on March 31, 2014 from Tk 40,583.01 crore as on December 31, 2013. The official said, ‘Capital shortfall at BASIC Bank widened at the first quarter as it faced a number of financial scams in the recent years.’ According to central bank statistics, the capital shortfall in the four state-owned banks – Sonali, Janata, Agrani and Rupali – stood at Tk 240.54 crore as of March 31, 2014 against a surplus of Tk 855 crore during October-December last year. Their CAR was 9.77 per cent as of March 31, 2014. The capital shortfall in the four specialised banks – BASIC, BDBL, BKB and RAKUB – stood at Tk 6,762.78 crore in the first quarter of 2014 from a shortfall of Tk 6,382 crore as of December 31, 2013. Their CAR was a negative of 12.38 per cent as of March 31, 2014. The private and foreign commercial banks, however, posted a surplus capital of Tk 5,995.47 crore and Tk 3,385.60 crore respectively in the first quarter of 2014, the BB data showed. The CAR of The PCBs and the FCBs was 12.39 per cent and 22.40 per cent respectively during January-March of 2014. Another BB official said that capital position in the banking sector would worsen further in the second quarter of 2014 if the defaulted loans maintained the upward trend.