Trading of five banks’ shares suspended as merger process begins

Trading of the shares of five Shariah-based banks was suspended today following Bangladesh Bank's (BB) decision to appoint administrators in the banks in its bid to merge them into a new bank and salvage the financial sector, according to a decision by the two bourses.

Today, the Dhaka Stock Exchange and the Chittagong Stock Exchange said trading of shares of First Security Islami Bank, Social Islami Bank, Union Bank, Exim Bank, and Global Islami Bank had been suspended.

In separate disclosures, both stock exchanges said trading of the shares of the banks shall remain suspended from today until further notice.

The announcement comes as the BB has declared the banks "non-viable" with effect from November 5, 2025, in accordance with Section 15 of the Bank Resolution Ordinance, 2025.

Yesterday, at a press briefing, BB Governor Ahsan H Mansur said shareholders of the five banks, which are soon going to be merged, will not receive any shares in the new bank, as the value of assets tied to their existing shareholding is already negative.

He said that the BB found in its calculations that while the face value of each share is Tk 10, the net asset value for each is Tk 3.50 to Tk 4.20 in the negative.

"So, the central bank is not taking them into consideration, as they hold zero liability," Mansur said. "No shareholder of the merged banks will get anything."

Yesterday, all the shares were traded on the stock exchanges.