Tk1cr bank accounts grow by 3,362 in three months

TBS Illustration

The number of bank accounts holding Tk1 crore or more increased by 3,362 in the three months through June.

According to data from the central bank, the number of accounts with more than Tk1 crore stood at 1.14 lakh at the end of June, up from 1.10 lakh at the end of the March quarter.

At the end of June, total deposits in banks amounted to Tk16.87 lakh crore, with Tk7.31 lakh crore, or 43.33% of the deposits, held in crore taka accounts.

A senior central bank official said this can be viewed from two perspectives: the number of crore taka accounts has significantly increased over the last five years.

"In other words, businesses are performing well, and the majority of these accounts are institutional or business accounts. Deposits have also grown due to their robust profits. Increasing deposits is beneficial for the economy as a whole. When a country's savings grow, its investment capacity also increases," he told The Business Standard.

In the June quarter, deposits in the country's banking sector grew by Tk74,000 crore. Within this, deposits in crore taka accounts increased by approximately Tk40,500 crore.

"We have to see how the total number of account holders is increasing and how the deposits are increasing accordingly. If the deposits of account holders other than crore taka do not increase in that way, then it must be said that inequality is increasing in the country," the official added.

According to data from the Bangladesh Bank, out of the total 14.60 crore bank accounts, 65%, or 9.51 crore, have deposits less than Tk5,000. An average of Tk1,000 is deposited in these accounts. In other words, the amount of bank deposits of a large part of the people in the country is at its lowest level.

Selim RF Hussain, managing director at Brac Bank, said, "Inequality is increasing in our country; there is no way to deny it. A continuous increase in the number of crore taka accounts in a country also means that economic inequality is increasing in society. However, the increase in deposits in the banking sector is definitely good news for the sector."

Deposits in state banks are increasing more

According to the central bank, deposits in banks in the June quarter increased by 4.59% compared to the March quarter. The increase was 5.73% for the state-owned banks, which saw a higher growth of 9.31% in the December quarter of 2020. According to that, in the last two and a half years, deposits in these banks have increased at the highest rate in April-June.

Md Abdul Jabbar, managing director at the state-owned Janata Bank, said many people have returned to state banks due to negative news about many private banks.

"Because they know that it is safe to deposit money in state-owned banks. Increasing public confidence has played a key role in increasing deposits in our banks," he added.

After joining Janata Bank, he took a 101-day programme to increase new accounts and deposits of customers, he said, adding, "We got unexpected success in this programme. More than two lakh new accounts have been opened during this time. And when a new account is opened, the deposit also increases a little. We are now working on new initiatives."

According to the central bank data, deposits in specialised banks increased by 4.13%, private banks by 4.48%, and foreign banks by 0.36%.