Banking sector of Bangladesh

The banking sector of Bangladesh (ব্যাংকিং খাত, byānkiṁ khāt) is supervised by Bangladesh Bank (বাংলাদেশ ব্যাংক), the central bank, under the Bangladesh Bank Order, 1972 and the Bank Company Act, 1991 ⁹¹. As of 19 September 2026 Bangladesh Bank recorded 63 scheduled banks operating under its full control and supervision ¹.

Composition of the scheduled banking sector

Category	Number	Basis
State-owned commercial banks (SOCBs)	7	Fully or majorly owned by the Government of Bangladesh [S1]
Scheduled specialised banks (SSBs)	3	Established for specific objectives such as agricultural or industrial development; fully or majorly government-owned [S1]
Private commercial banks (PCBs)	43	Of which 33 are conventional and 10 operate on Islami Shariah-based principles [S1]
Digital commercial bank	1	A branchless digital bank owned by private entities; recorded by Bangladesh Bank as "yet not granted permission for Commercial Operation" [S1]
Foreign commercial banks (FCBs)	9	Branches of banks incorporated abroad [S1]
**Total**	**63**	Sum of the above [S1]

The three scheduled specialised banks are Bangladesh Krishi Bank, Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank and Probashi Kollyan Bank ¹. The digital bank named on Bangladesh Bank’s scheduled-bank list is Nagad Digital Bank PLC ². Bank branches are licensed under Section 31 of the Bank Company Act, 1991, which also sets prudential requirements ⁸.

Non-scheduled specialised banks

Separately from the scheduled banks, Bangladesh Bank records five non-scheduled specialised banks: Ansar VDP Unnayan Bank, Karmashangosthan Bank, Grameen Bank, Jubilee Bank and Palli Sanchay Bank. Non-scheduled banks are those established for special and definite objectives which cannot perform all the functions of scheduled banks ¹.

Naming the state-owned commercial banks

Bangladesh Bank states that there are seven state-owned commercial banks but its published pages retrieved in this research round do not itemise which seven they are ¹. Four are confirmed as scheduled banks on the Bank’s own list: Sonali Bank PLC, Janata Bank PLC, Agrani Bank PLC and Rupali Bank PLC ². Three further banks that appear on the same list — BASIC Bank PLC (Bangladesh Small Industries and Commerce Bank PLC), Bangladesh Development Bank PLC (BDBL) and Community Bank Bangladesh PLC — are not explicitly labelled as state-owned commercial banks by Bangladesh Bank on those pages, so their classification is not asserted here ². The Financial Institutions Division of the Ministry of Finance exercises ownership and administrative oversight of the state-owned commercial banks ⁸.

Islamic banking

Bangladesh Bank records 10 Islami Shariah-based private commercial banks, operating on profit-and-loss sharing principles ¹. Shariah-based banks appearing on the Bank’s scheduled-bank list include Al-Arafah Islami Bank PLC, First Security Islami Bank PLC, Global Islami Bank PLC, ICB Islamic Bank Ltd, Islami Bank Bangladesh PLC, Shahjalal Islami Bank PLC, Social Islami Bank PLC, Union Bank PLC, Export Import Bank of Bangladesh PLC, Standard Islami Bank PLC and Sammilito Islami Bank PLC ².

Non-bank financial institutions

Non-bank financial institutions are licensed as finance companies. Bangladesh Bank records 35 finance companies operating, the first having been established in 1981. Ownership is recorded as: 2 fully government-owned; 1 a subsidiary of a state-owned commercial bank; 2 jointly owned by the government and foreign government entities; 19 established by private domestic entrepreneurs; and 11 joint ventures of domestic and foreign entrepreneurs ¹.

Bangladesh Bank states that finance companies cannot issue cheques, pay orders or demand drafts, cannot receive demand deposits, and cannot engage in foreign-exchange financing ¹. The governing statute is the Finance Company Act, 2023, which repealed the Financial Institutions Act, 1993 ³⁸.

Legal framework

The principal instruments governing the sector, as listed by Bangladesh Bank, include: the Bangladesh Bank Order, 1972; the Bank Company Act, 1991 (amended up to 2023); the Bank Deposit Insurance Act, 2000; the Finance Company Act, 2023; the Secured Transactions (Movable Property) Act, 2023; the Offshore Banking Act, 2024; the Payment and Settlement System Act, 2024; the Bankers’ Books Evidence Act, 2021; the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012; and the Bank Resolution Ordinance, 2025 together with the Bank Resolution Act, 2026 ³.

Changes in the sector, 2024–2026

The following changes are matters of record:

• Board changes after August 2024. Following the political transition of August 2024, Bangladesh Bank dissolved the previous boards of several banks and appointed new board members ⁵.
• Bank Resolution Ordinance, 2025. The Ordinance was promulgated to provide, in its stated terms, "timely solutions to risks arising from capital shortfalls, liquidity crises, insolvency or other threats to the survival of scheduled banks, while ensuring overall financial stability". It empowers Bangladesh Bank as statutory resolution authority to appoint administrators, to replace key management personnel where necessary, and to take measures required for a resolution or merger ⁵⁶.
• Merger of five Shariah-based banks. On 15 September 2025 Bangladesh Bank’s board approved the merger of five Shariah-based banks — First Security Islami Bank, Social Islami Bank, Global Islami Bank, Union Bank and EXIM Bank — under the Bank Resolution Ordinance, 2025, and sanctioned the appointment of temporary administrative teams at each. The process was stated at the time to take at least two years, and the boards were to be absorbed or abolished on completion of each merger. The capital requirement was stated as an estimated Tk 35,200 crore, comprising Tk 20,200 crore from government and Tk 15,000 crore from institutional funds and conversion of institutional deposits ⁵. The five banks were merged into Sammilito Islami Bank PLC, a name that appears on Bangladesh Bank’s scheduled-bank list ²⁷.
• Bank Resolution Act, 2026. The Ordinance was placed before the first session of the 13th Jatiya Sangsad and enacted with amendments as the Bank Resolution Act, 2026. A new Section 18A was added before passage, allowing former shareholders of a resolved bank to apply to Bangladesh Bank to re-acquire shares, assets and liabilities ⁶⁷.
• Bank Resolution (Amendment) Bill, 2026. Placed before Parliament on 3 September 2026 by the Finance Minister, seeking to repeal Section 18A. The bill was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Finance ⁶⁷.
• Digital banking. Guidelines to establish digital banks created a non-branch, technology-focused category with a stated minimum capital of Tk 300 crore ⁸. Nagad Digital Bank PLC appears on Bangladesh Bank’s scheduled-bank list but had not been granted permission for commercial operation as of the last retrieval ².

Deposits and protection

A deposit insurance scheme was introduced in August 1984. All scheduled banks are members, and the governing statute is the Bank Deposit Insurance Act, 2000. A Deposit Insurance Trust Fund was created, for which the Board of Directors of Bangladesh Bank is the Trustee Board ⁴.

Verification notes

• The total number of bank branches and ATMs is not stated. No T1 figure was retrieved; Bangladesh Bank’s Banks & Financial Institutions page carries no branch or ATM total ¹.
• The explicit items of all seven state-owned commercial banks were not verified, as Bangladesh Bank states the number without itemising them on the pages retrieved ¹².
• The enactment status of the draft Bank Company (Amendment) Act, 2025, the draft Bangladesh Bank Order (Amendment), 2025 and the draft Insolvency and Bankruptcy Ordinance, 2025 was not verified; all three were reported as proposals ⁸.
• The number of Islamic banking windows operated by conventional banks was not retrieved from any source ¹.

Sources

9 sources cited. Tiers: T1 official or primary, T2 scholarly or curated, T3 media of record.

1. Bangladesh Bank — Banks & Financial Institutions (classification of scheduled and non-scheduled banks, and finance companies) — Bangladesh Bank (T1, accessed 2026-09-19). https://www.bb.org.bd/en/index.php/financialactivity/bankfi
2. Bangladesh Bank — Scheduled Banks list — Bangladesh Bank (T1, accessed 2026-09-19). https://www.bb.org.bd/en/index.php/links/links/9
3. Bangladesh Bank — Laws and Acts — Bangladesh Bank (T1, accessed 2026-09-19). https://www.bb.org.bd/en/index.php/about/lawsnacts
4. Bangladesh Bank — Regulators of the Financial System (deposit insurance scheme) — Bangladesh Bank (T1, accessed 2026-09-19). https://www.bb.org.bd/en/index.php/financialsystems/regulator
5. Merger plan for five Islamic banks gets clearance — The Daily Star (T3, accessed 2026-09-19). https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/merger-plan-five-islamic-banks-gets-clearance-3987431
6. Bank Resolution (Amendment) Bill, 2026 placed before parliament — The Financial Express (T3, accessed 2026-09-19). https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/bangladesh/bank-resolution-amendment-bill-2026-placed-before-parliament
7. Bank Resolution Act: provision allowing ex-owners to regain control of troubled banks to be scrapped — The Business Standard (T3, accessed 2026-09-19). https://www.tbsnews.net/economy/banking/bank-resolution-act-provision-allowing-ex-owners-regain-control-troubled-banks-be
8. Banking Regulation 2026: Bangladesh — Chambers Global Practice Guides (last updated 9 December 2025) (T2, accessed 2026-09-19). https://practiceguides.chambers.com/practice-guides/banking-regulation-2026/bangladesh
9. Bangladesh Bank Order, 1972 (President’s Order No. 127 of 1972) — Laws of Bangladesh, Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs (T1, accessed 2026-09-19). http://bdlaws.minlaw.gov.bd/act-details-415.html

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