Bangladesh's Sammilito Islami Bank has established a dedicated “Collection & Recovery War-Room” to intensify investment collection and recovery efforts and improve their effectiveness, The Daily Star reported.

Bank managing director Abedur Rahman Sikder inaugurated the new desk at the lender's corporate headquarters in Dhaka. He said collection and recovery should be treated as a key priority rather than a routine banking function, particularly to protect depositors and support the bank's financial recovery.

He said faster and more effective recovery would improve the bank's financial strength and liquidity, enabling it to better meet its obligations to depositors. He also pledged to uphold good governance, transparency, accountability and professionalism across the bank.

Sikder urged employees to work with integrity, dedication and responsibility to develop Sammilito Islami Bank into a modern, technology-driven and customer-focused Islamic bank. He said transforming the lender into a strong and sustainable institution would require collective responsibility and greater accountability from its employees.

The managing director expressed confidence that coordinated efforts through the new war-room would accelerate investment recovery and better protect the interests of depositors, customers and other stakeholders.

The meeting reviewed the bank's current recovery position, strategies for recovering funds from large borrowers, collection targets, potential legal action and future recovery plans.

Sammilito Islami Bank is a state-owned Islamic bank created through the transfer of the assets and liabilities of EXIM Bank, Social Islami Bank, First Security Islami Bank, Global Islami Bank and Union Bank.

The bank has been provided with a capital structure of BDT350bn ($2.85bn), comprising BDT200bn from the government and BDT150bn from depositors, to strengthen its capital base.

Senior officials from the five constituent banks, as well as representatives from the recovery and legal divisions, attended the inauguration.