Country's shariah-compliant finance has continued to maintain an impressive growth despite bottlenecks created by Covid-19 pandemic as the share of the total investment of Islamic banks grew 3.10 percent at the end of September quarter of 2020, according to the latest data of Bangladesh Bank (BB).
During the period, total investments of the Islamic banking sector stood at Tk 2840105.53 million, up by Tk 85445.90 million compared to the end of June, 2020 and by Tk 336876.16 million or 10.04 percent compared to the end of the same month of 2019.
Total deposits in Islamic banking industry reached Tk 3196248.59 million at the end of September, 2020 which increased by Tk 283209.58 million or 9.72 percent compared to June end, 2020 and by Tk 575139.33 million or 21.94 per cent compared to the end of the same month of 2019.
At the end of September 2020, investment-deposit ratio (credit-deposit ratio in conventional sense) stood at 0.89 which was 0.95 at the end of June 2020 and 0.96 at the end of September 2019.
Liquidity in shariah-based banking sector also witnessed a rise as excess liquidity of Islamic banking industry stood at Tk 182540.01 million at the end of September, 2020 which was higher by Tk 89172.11 million to the end of June, 2020 and higher by Tk 121233.96 million compared to the end of the same month of 2019.
Islamic banking sector has also played a key role in mobilizing remittances as the sector mobilized Tk 179552.69 million during July-September 2020 quarter, which was higher by Tk 76311.46 million or by 73.92 percent compared to the June quarter of 2020 and higher by Tk 60928.57 million or 51.36 percent compared to the September quarter of the 2019.
Islamic banks have accounted for 31.53 percent share of remittances mobilized by the entire banking industry during September 2020 quarter, according to the BB's data.
The number of branches of Islamic banking sector including Islamic branches/windows of conventional commercial banks reached 1464 at the end of September, 2020 which was 1448 at the end June, 2020 and 1301 at the September end of the last year.
As regards the job situation the sector has made a progress as the total employment in the Islamic banking sector stood at 38125 at the end of September, 2020 which was 36582 at the end of June, 2020 and 36337 at the end of September 2019.
"Islamic banking industry holds almost one-fourth share of the entire banking industry in terms of deposits and investments at the end of the quarter. Similar to conventional banks, Islamic banks are playing vital roles in addressing negative impacts of Covid-19 pandemic," said BB's chief spokesperson Serajul Islam.
He said key steps of Islamic banks for mitigation of adverse impact of the pandemic include keeping branches open to a limited extent during the lockdown, implementation of financial stimuli package as directed by Bangladesh Bank, extension of time for repayment of investments, timely delivery of remittances, undertaking safety measures for staff and emphasizing on online banking and virtual meeting and training.
"Our Islamic banking segment are getting very positive response from clients over the last few years as both the deposits and investments from our shariah-compliant finance are on rise during Covid-19 Pandemic. We have been able to provide all necessary supports of clients maintaining accounts in Islamic banking system," said Bank Asia President and Managing Director Arfan Ali.
At the end of September2020, eight full-fledged Islamic banks have been operating in the country.
In addition, 19 Islamic banking branches of nine conventional commercial banks and 166 Islamic banking windows of 12 conventional commercial banks are also providing Islamic financial services in Bangladesh.
It may be recalled that three conventional banks namely Mercantile Bank, Midland Bank and NRB Commercial Bank have also started offering Islamic Shariahh compliant financial services through dedicated windows.
Moreover, two conventional banks such as Standard Bank and NRB Global Bank in the new name of Global Islamic Bank Limited have started operation as full-fledged Islamic banks since 1 January2021 after completion of conversion process.
