Global Islami Bank's accumulated losses hit Tk4,974cr by mid-2025
The bank also incurred substantial losses in 2023 and 2024 amid the rising provisions against its bad loans.
The accumulated losses of Global Islami Bank, once controlled by the controversial S Alam Group, have risen to Tk4,974 crore as of June 2025, according to the bank's disclosure published on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) website today (13 August).
The bank also incurred substantial losses in 2023 and 2024 amid the rising provisions against its bad loans.
Now, the publicly traded bank reported a loss of around Tk1,717 crore with a per-share loss of Tk16.56 in the first half of 2025. In the same period of 2024, it made a profit of Tk80 crore with an earnings per share (EPS) of Tk0.97.
In today's disclosure, the bank attributed the negative earnings per share during the period to an operating loss of Tk563.10 crore and provisioning of Tk1,070.43 crore against bad loans.
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As a result, its retained earnings have turned negative, totalling Tk4,974.23 crore, the bank stated.
Under the S Alam Group's control, the bank reported profits until 2023. But after the change in political regime in August 2024, audits revealed a different picture.
Following the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August, the bank's board was dissolved on 29 August and replaced with five independent directors.
A special audit by the Bangladesh Bank and the bank itself revealed a stunning act of balance sheet manipulation, where the bank, despite incurring a substantial loss of Tk2,259 crore for 2023, falsely reported a net profit of Tk128 crore.
Behind this financial mirage, the then board of directors engaged in what appears to be a sophisticated exercise in "window dressing." They grossly underreported non-performing loans (NPLs) to evade provisioning requirements and artificially inflate profits.
With the fresh audits, the reconstituted board appointed by the central bank rectified the previous financials and revoked the declared dividend of 5% cash and 5% stock dividend.
Later, in 2024, the bank incurred a Tk1,308 crore loss with a per share loss of Tk12.62, and decided not to pay any dividends to its shareholders.
In the first half of 2025, Global Islami Bank's net asset value per share stood at a negative Tk38.33 as of June 2025, while its net operating cash flow per share stood at a negative Tk9.08, which was positive at Tk1.30 as of June 2024.
Regarding its assets decrease, the bank said the net asset value per share decreased by Tk52.73 for the period ended on 30 June compared to the same period of last year due to an earlier charging of a significant amount of provision.
The drop in operating cash flow was driven by lower investment income receipts of Tk861.34 crore and higher profit payments on deposits of Tk314.23 crore compared to the same period last year, the bank said.
Apr-Jun financials
In the April-June quarter alone, Global Islami Bank posted a loss of Tk939.35 crore, with a per share loss of Tk7.51, against a profit of Tk15.41 crore and EPS of Tk0.81 in the same period of 2024.
The bank blamed the quarterly loss on an operating deficit of Tk127.65 crore and provisions of Tk607.10 crore.
IPO and share price plunge
In 2022, Global Islami Bank raised Tk425 crore in capital through an Initial Public Offering (IPO), approved by the BSEC in June of that year.
Despite shares being issued at a face value of Tk10 each, the current share price has plummeted to a mere Tk2.90.
The raised capital was allocated for investments in SMEs (Tk100 crore), government securities and bonds (Tk268.50 crore), listed securities and bonds (Tk50 crore), and IPO-related expenses (Tk6.50 crore).
