Dhaka, Dec. 1 -- The Bangladesh Bank has given its final approval to merge five financially distressed Shariah-based banks into a single entity named United Islami Bank, removing the last regulatory barriers for the new institution to begin operations.
The approval came at a central bank board meeting on Sunday, officially clearing the way for what will become the country's largest state-owned Islamic bank.
The five banks being consolidated are First Security Islami Bank, Global Islami Bank, Union Bank, Exim Bank, and Social Islami Bank.
This follows the Ministry of Finance's issuance of a Letter of Intent (LoI) on 9 November, after the government completed key regulatory steps under the Bank Company Act, including obtaining name clearan...