The Bangladesh Bank on Thursday directed banks and non-bank financial institutions to upload borrower loan data on a monthly basis.
The central bank issued a circular in this regard on the day.
According to the circular, banks must submit detailed loan data, including subject data, contract data, and link data, for both sanctioned and existing loans within 15 days after the close of each reporting month.
This should be done in bulk or via individual entry through the credit information system.
If there are changes in loan status between monthly submissions, banks are required to upload real-time data reflecting those changes as soon as they occur.
However, the initial submission must reflect the loan status as of the last day of the previous month, after which any real-time updates can be made.
A similar directive was issued on December 14, 2023, but it was relaxed on May 6, 2024, allegedly to obscure the data of large borrowers.
BB officials said that many irregularities and manipulations occurred with the loan data, particularly in the lead-up to the national election on January 7, allowing borrowers to secure eligibility for election participation.
After the fall of Awami League government on August 5 amid a student-led mass uprising, Abdur Rouf Talukder, who implemented relaxed regulations, resigned as BB governor.
On August 14, Ahsan H Mansur joined the central bank as governor.
On September 10, the central bank further instructed banks to report lending under the official names registered with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms.
This was aimed at preventing loans from being approved under the names of separate business units, which made it difficult to determine whether loans exceeded the single borrower exposure limit of 25 per cent.
The directive is part of a broader effort by the central bank to improve transparency and ensure that lending to companies and business groups is clearly monitored under the appropriate legal entities.
