Janata Bank PLC

autonomous · verified (verified 2026-05-17)

Profile

Head: M. Fazlur Rahman
Role: Chairman
Annual budget: —
Staff: —
Established: 1972
Legal basis: Bangladesh Banks (Nationalisation) Order, 1972 (President's Order No. 26 of 1972); corporatised and registered as a public limited company on 21 May 2007 under the Companies Act

Janata Bank PLC is the most financially distressed of the four state-owned commercial banks, with an NPL ratio of approximately 70% as of September 2025, a capital deficit of Tk65,093 crore (June 2025), and a Tk200 billion emergency bailout request pending; the bank is subject to multiple ACC prosecution tracks over S Alam Group loan fraud totalling over Tk8,200 crore across at least four cases; it is earmarked for inclusion in Bangladesh Bank's nine-SOB consolidation into two large entities (plan announced, groupings not yet disclosed); IMF ECF benchmark requiring SOBs to reach 10% NPL ratio by June 2026 is not achievable at Janata given the current 70% ratio; the bank launched Janata Pay and a Visa Dual Currency Debit Card in April 2026 as part of a digitalisation drive.

Recent activity

2026-02-01 scandal Bangladesh Bank data showed Janata Bank's NPL ratio stood at approximately 70% of total loans as of September 2025, the worst among the four state-owned commercial banks (Rupali 51%, Agrani 40%, Sonali 20%); top 33 clients alone defaulted on Tk56,131 crore with Beximco Group (Tk23,000 crore) and S Alam Group (Tk9,400 crore) accounting for over half; capital deficit reached Tk65,093 crore by June 2025 versus Tk9,262 crore in December 2022. ↗↗↗
2026-02-01 reform BB Governor Ahsan H Mansur announced plan to consolidate all nine state-owned banks (Sonali, Agrani, Rupali, Janata, BASIC, Bangladesh Development Bank, Bangladesh Krishi Bank, Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank, Probashi Kallyan Bank) into two large entities; no grouping details publicly disclosed; rationale is governance improvement and elimination of chronic mismanagement. ↗↗
2026-02-26 regulation BB's H2 FY26 monetary policy embedded NPL reduction targets as IMF ECF structural benchmarks: state-owned commercial banks (including Janata Bank) to cut NPL ratio to 10% by June 2026, against Janata Bank's actual ratio of approximately 70% -- a gap analysts consider unbridgeable within the timeframe. ↗↗
2026-03-15 legal ACC filed three additional cases against S Alam Group and Janata Bank officials (21 December 2025) over embezzlement of Tk6,243 crore from Janata Bank via S Alam Vegetable Oil (Tk2,003 crore), S Alam Cold Rolled Steels (Tk2,298 crore), and S Alam Trading Company (Tk1,943 crore); S Alam Group Chairman Saiful Alam Masud named prime accused in each; Chattogram Money Loan Court had separately ordered seizure of 307 satak of land, two flats, and Tk4.32 crore bank account of S Alam entities in August 2025. ↗↗↗
2026-04-12 other Janata Bank PLC launched two retail products: Janata Pay (digital payment platform enabling mobile wallet, bank card, and internet banking payments across government, private, and e-commerce sectors) and Visa Dual Currency Debit Card (enables domestic and international transactions including foreign currency withdrawals via Visa ATM network); Financial Institutions Division Secretary Nazma Mobarek inaugurated both virtually. ↗↗↗↗
2026-05-01 appointment Md Obaydul Haque, former executive director of Bangladesh Bank and former principal of NRBC Bank Training Institute, joined Janata Bank PLC as a director (reported by The Financial Express, 1 April 2026); Chairman M. Fazlur Rahman presided over the bank's 875th board meeting in February 2026. ↗↗
2026-05-10 legal Chattogram court sentenced five former Janata Bank officials (Sheikh Mujib Road Corporate Branch) to 8 years imprisonment each for embezzling Tk3.39 crore in collusion with customers between 1 January 1999 and 29 March 2000; court also imposed a fine of Tk46 lakh each with an additional one year in default. ↗↗

Provenance & notes

Janata Bank was formed in 1972 by merging the then United Bank Limited and Union Bank Limited under President's Order No. 26 (Bangladesh Banks Nationalisation Order, 1972), effective 26 March 1972. It was corporatised as a public limited company on 21 May 2007 while remaining 100% government-owned. The bank's official website domain is janatabank-bd.com (as specified); the PMIS portal at pmis.janatabank-bd.com hosts management and branch data. Current head: M. Fazlur Rahman (Chairman), former secretary, appointed 28 August 2024 and joined 18 September 2024 for a three-year term; Managing Director: Md. Mojibur Rahman, appointed November 2024 (transferred from Expatriates Welfare Bank). Financial data cross-checked: 2024 selected indicators from jb.com.bd/about_us/financial_highlights show total assets Tk138,705 crore, loans Tk98,388 crore, deposits Tk110,336 crore -- these are pre-NPL-write-off figures; the capital deficit figure of Tk65,093 crore (June 2025) and NPL ratio of approximately 70% (September 2025) are sourced from The Daily Star and The Business Standard citing BB regulatory data. S Alam Group exposure: Tk10,629 crore concentrated in a single Chattogram branch (General Insurance Bhaban branch) alone across six S Alam entities, in violation of BB single-borrower limit (maximum permissible Tk578.5 crore against paid-up capital of Tk2,314 crore as of June 2025); this figure is distinct from the Tk9,400 crore figure which represents S Alam's share of the top-11 defaulter list. The Beximco exposure of Tk23,000-23,407 crore represents 410% of the single-borrower limit and is the largest individual exposure. The nine-SOB merger plan was announced by then-Governor Ahsan H Mansur; under current Governor Mostaqur Rahman (took office 26 February 2026), the plan's status is unchanged in principle but the detailed merger framework and groupings have not been publicly disclosed as of the verification date.

Janata Bank PLC

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