EXIM Bank-Padma Bank merger plan scrapped

Exim Bank has cancelled its decision to merge with crisis-hit Padma Bank, it was revealed Tuesday morning, ending the plans for the country’s first bank merger.

Earlier on 14 March, it was decided Padma Bank would be merged with Exim Bank after a Tk1,700 crore government bailout package failed to bear fruit.

On 18 March, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed to start the merger procedures. Then operating under alleged oligarch Nazrul Islam Majumder, Exim Bank had decided to obsolete Padma Bank’s name but retain its employees in a new merged entity.

Founded in 2013 as the Farmers Bank, Padma Bank has consistently struggled to maintain a stable balance sheet. Since, 2017, under the chairmanship of Awami League-backed Chowdhury Nafeez Sarafat, the institution’s inability to recover non-performing loans became more acute.