Mercantile Bank to introduce Islamic banking window by December

Mercantile Bank is going to introduce shariah-based Islamic banking windows by December this year.

For this, the bank authorities have already got a primary approval from the Bangladesh Bank.

A certain section of people in the country has interest in Islamic banking. Keeping this in mind, the board of directors have decided to open Islamic banking windows, said a senior official of the private bank.

They soon will call an annual general meeting for approval of shareholders in this matter, he added.

Kamrul Islam, managing director and chief executive officer of the Mercantile Bank, told The Business Standard that they will primarily open Islamic banking windows at ten branches. Later the number will be increased gradually.

The extent of the shariah-based Islamic Banking is expanding day by day. Of 59 banks, at present, Islami banks across the country are controlling one-fourth of Islamic Banking in regard to deposit and lending.

According to the central bank, eight banks are fully doing Islamic banking. Besides, different conventional banks have 19 branches and 25 Islamic banking windows.

These branches and windows hold Tk2,53,058 crore in deposits, which is around 24 percent of the total deposits kept with all the banks in the country.

Last year, the deposits with the Islamic banks were Tk2,24,756 crore. The deposits have increased by around 13 percent in a year.

In the first half of the current fiscal year, the net profit of the Mercantile Bank stood at Tk123 crore and earning per share was Tk1.79.

At the end of 2018, the bank provided 15 percent stock dividend to its shareholders. The earning per share that year was Tk3.59.

On Wednesday, the share price of the bank was Tk12.40 at the closing of stock market.

The highest share price of the bank was Tk20.50 in the last one year.