Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said Wednesday banks interested to get merged with each other will be given permission once a law is passed in this regard.
“The law (merger and acquisition) is at draft stage. We will take it to the parliament. The merger will start when the law is passed,” he told newsmen after a virtual meeting of the cabinet committee on government purchase.
His comment came when his attention was drawn to the government’s stance over the merger interest of state-owned Basic Bank and privately owned Padma Bank Ltd.
The Padma Bank Ltd in July applied to the finance minister to get merged with any of the financially strong state-owned banks. Later, the Financial Institutions Division of the Ministry of Finance sent the application to the central bank for its opinion on it.
However, the finance minister on Wednesday again told newsmen that he did not receive any such application from the Padma Bank Ltd.
On the other hand, the government itself wants to merge the problem-ridden Basic Bank with any of the state-owned banks to keep it salvaged.
The central bank estimated that a vested quarter with the help of the board of directors has looted around Tk 45 billion from the bank in a span of six years period.
