Three state banks go public by year-end
State owned commercial banks are likely to go public as part of their efforts to mobilise capital in meeting the requirement of Basel-II accord.
The three state banks -- Sonali, Janata and Agrani will issue rights share at first, declare stock dividends and increase reserve from the profit, and then go for the public offer to meet the shortfall.
The BASEL-II accord is to strengthen the banks' financial health and mitigating risks to make them more shock absorbent.
“The banks will start the capital mobilisation process under an action plan by the end of this year,” said Syed Abu Naser Bukhtear Ahmed, managing director and chief executive officer of Agrani Bank.
Earlier, the three banks have been corporatised with a view to making them financially sound and efficient, and then offload shares to the stock market.
Bangladesh Bank asked the country's commercial banks to comply with the Basel-II accord, including capital adequacy, by January 2010 as they are still far from adequate capital. It also warned bankers of stringent regulatory measures in case of default.
The three banks would have a total capital shortfall of Tk 1,200 crore from the capital required as per the Basel-II, an official said.
“The banks will have no capital shortfall by the year 2010,” said SM Aminur Rahman, managing director and chief executive officer of Janata Bank.
Janata executives hinted that the bank would have to mobilise around Tk 100 crore through public offer.
According to a Bangladesh Bank estimate, all the state banks remained far behind the capital requirement, as they need a cumulative risk weighted asset of Tk 18,000 crore to comply with the Basel-II accord while private banks will require Tk 4,000 crore.
The banks from both the sectors will require an additional Tk 2,300 crore by January next year in this regard.
Of the total 48 commercial banks operating in the country, all but the Krishi Bank is unlikely to comply with the accord, while all the nine foreign banks are in better position.
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