Repayments Are Now Underway: Branches of Sammilito Islami Bank PLC turned festive on September 7 as the newly formed bank began repaying deposits to individual customers under its special repayment programme.
Customers arrived at branches from the morning to complete the necessary formalities and collect their eligible funds, with several telling reporters they felt genuine relief after months of uncertainty over their savings. Depositor Abu Sufian, who visited a branch in Dhaka, said the ability to withdraw money that day had brought him great relief after a long period of worry.
How Bangladesh Got Here
Sammilito Islami Bank was created through the merger of five crisis-hit Shariah-based lenders, First Security Islami Bank, Global Islami Bank, Social Islami Bank, EXIM Bank, and Union Bank, under a resolution scheme finalised by Bangladesh Bank.
Together, the five banks held deposits worth around 142,000 crore taka from roughly 7.5 million depositors, against total loans of 193,000 crore taka, a gap that had left the lenders in serious financial distress before the merger. Bangladesh Bank wrote down the shares of all five merged banks to zero, citing negative asset values, and structured the new institution’s paid-up capital at 35,000 crore taka, split between 20,000 crore taka from the government and 15,000 crore taka from the Deposit Insurance Fund.
The Application Window and What Came Next
Sammilito Islami Bank resumed normal banking operations for individual account holders on September 1, opening a window for customers to formally apply for withdrawal of their principal deposits ahead of payments beginning on September 7.
Over the following days, applications flowed in steadily but at a pace lower than the bank had anticipated. On the first day, 18,046 customers applied to withdraw 1,329 crore taka, and by the final day of the application period, that number had fallen to 15,476 customers seeking 657 crore taka. In total, around 74,221 customers applied to withdraw 3,925 crore taka over four working days, a figure bank officials described as encouraging given how much higher they had expected demand to run.
How the Bank Is Funding the Payouts
To meet the repayment obligations, Bangladesh Bank transferred 5,000 crore taka to the five constituent banks’ accounts on September 6, drawn from nearly 10,000 crore taka that Sammilito Islami Bank holds in its current account with the central bank.
Bangladesh Bank has also cancelled a previously proposed haircut on part of depositors’ profits for 2024 and 2025, removing what had been a point of anxiety for many customers watching the resolution process unfold. Managing Director and CEO Md Abedur Rahman Sikder said the bank had made adequate preparations at branches across its five constituent institutions and that the volume of applications had declined gradually as the window progressed, which he read as a sign of growing depositor trust.
What Depositors Can Actually Withdraw
Individual depositors can withdraw their principal from Al-Wadiah current accounts, Mudaraba savings accounts, monthly term deposit receipts, deposit pension schemes, and other account types. Customers who withdraw before their deposit reaches maturity will receive only the principal amount, while those who choose to keep their funds with the bank until maturity will still receive profits as originally agreed.
Withdrawals can be made either as cash or transferred to another bank through the real-time gross settlement system. Special provisions have also been built into the framework for vulnerable depositors, with customers suffering from cancer or requiring kidney dialysis facing no withdrawal restrictions regardless of how large their deposits are.
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Why the Bank Is Framing This as a Confidence Test
Officials have been careful to describe the repayment process not just as a logistical exercise but as a broader trust-building moment for Bangladesh’s banking sector. A senior Bangladesh Bank official noted that since the government owns the bank, customers should be able to transact with it with the same confidence they would place in any other state-owned institution.
The bank has said that once operations fully normalise, deposits and withdrawals, including profit payments, will be allowed without the current limits, though officials have not given a firm date for when that fuller normalisation will take effect.
What Depositors Should Watch For Next
For now, the repayment process is running under the initial framework, with withdrawal amounts and eligibility tied to the categories set out in the Bank Resolution Scheme. Depositors who have not yet applied should check with their respective branch, since further phases of withdrawal access are expected to follow as liquidity support from Bangladesh Bank continues.
With the first repayment day drawing a calmer response than officials initially feared, the coming weeks will show whether that early confidence holds as more depositors move to access their funds.
