Total paid up capital and reserve of all non-bank financial institutions stood at Tk15035.89million up to June 2006, which was Tk13984.63 million at the end of 2005.

A total of 48 banks are operating in Bangladesh. Among them 30 banks are local private banks, four state-owned and five specialised commercial banks. Six banks are following Islami systems. The remaining nine banks are foreign ones.

The official data say the total number of branches of these banks reached 6576 up to March 2007, 58.38percent of which are located at rural areas.

The number of branches of the private commercial banks (PCBs) rose to 142 this year, whereas specialised bank branches increased to 16 and the number of foreign bank branches reached eight.

When the number of PCB branches marked a rise during the year, two branches of the nationalised commercial banks (NCBs) closed down.

Under the financial institutions reforms programme, a total of 164 branches were merged during the period.

The central bank issued 29 licences for non-bank financial institutions up to March in the 2006-07 fiscal.

The target of disbursing farm loans through the NCBs, Bangladesh Rural Development Board (BRDB) and cooperatives banks was fixed at Tk63513million.

These organisations disbursed Tk32696million agricultural credit in the July-February period of the outgoing fiscal, which was 7.40percent lower than the amount disbursed in the same period of the last fiscal. However, recovery rate increased 18.99percent over the corresponding period of the last fiscal.

The disbursement of industrial loans up to December 2006 increased 18.57percent over the same period of the last fiscal. The loan recovery rate of the industrial sector also witnessed a positive sign during the period.

Approximately 22.77 percent industrial loans were recovered during the period.

The official sources attributed the 25.52 percent rise in remittance inflow during the first nine months of the outgoing fiscal to some measures for preventing money laundering and easing procedures to send money home.

The foreign exchange reserve increased from $3484million to $4538million from June to April, 2007.

Citing different measures for reforming financial institutions, the sources also mentioned the new scheme taken by the central bank for settling the dispute on Oriental Bank.

The handover process of Rupali bank to a foreign buyer is now at final stage. On the other hand, the corporatisation process of three nationalised banks is running with full swing.