Five banks incurred losses while most others recorded huge profit fall in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period of the previous year due to poor business environment and provisioning pressure against increasing defaulted loans.

Among the 30 banks listed with Dhaka Stock Exchange, 5 incurred losses and 20 saw significant drop in profit while profit of five banks increased in the January-March period of the current year.

Bankers said that most of the banks had failed to meet the loan disbursement target due to the ongoing political crisis across the country, which caused the profit fall.

Besides, many borrowers did not repay loans, which resulted in the increase of defaulted loans.
‘We think increased classified loans is the main reason behind the profit fall in the first quarter of the present year,’ Association of Bankers Bangladesh president Nurul Amin told New Age.

‘Turmoil on the political front was another reason for the poor business environment that led to a poor credit growth in the banking sector,’ said Amin, who is also the managing defector of NCC Bank.

Some banks got extended time to keep provisioning against the classified loans and as they are doing that now, the profit is going downwards, he said. He said the situation is unlikely to improve till July this year, which will also depend on the country’s political stability.

Different irregularities in the banking sector that had pushed the banks on the backfoot and increased classified loans have been identified recently, Pubali Bank managing director Helal Ahmed Chowdhury told New Age.

As the banks have to keep provisioning against the huge classified loans in the period the profit went down, said Helal, also the vice-president of the Association of Bankers Bangladesh.

The ongoing political instability across the country is hindering expansion of businesses, he added.
According to data available from the Dhaka Stock Exchange, United Commercial Bank incurred losses worth Tk 99.98 crore in the first quarter of the year while it had made a profit of Tk 41.28 crore in the same period of the previous year. 

Prime Bank incurred losses worth Tk 151.73 crore from Tk 47.74 crore profit, Al-Arafah Islami Bank incurred losses worth Tk 25.12 crore from profit of Tk 66.61 crore, Exim Bank lost Tk 74.03 crore from profit of Tk 28.53 crore and National Bank lost Tk 14.29 crore from profit of Tk 158.96 crore.

Among the banks that witnessed profit decline, Standard Bank’s profit declined to Tk. 30.96 crore from Tk 41.34 crore, ONE Bank to Tk 2.55 crore from Tk 17.21 crore,

Islami Bank to Tk 58.09 crore from Tk 196.95 crore, Mutual Trust Bank to Tk 0.12 crore from Tk 11.32 crore, IFIC Bank to Tk 0.60 crore from Tk 29.92 crore,

Trust Bank to Tk 12.09 crore from Tk 22.43 crore, Dhaka Bank to Tk 19.82 crore from Tk 41.96 crore, Pubali Bank to Tk 30.83 crore from Tk 60.69 crore and Dutch Bangla Bank to Tk 30.02 crore from Tk 61.28 crore.