The amount of cash in the hands of people outside the country's banking system—known as 'mattress money'—is around Tk300,000 crore, said Association of Bankers Bangladesh (ABB) chairman Masrur Arefin. Regarding the management of non-performing loans, the ABB chairman said that it is reasonable to start a new journey by completely writing off the rotten loans. According to Masrur Arefin, non-performing loans are mainly a management and good governance problem. He commented that the creation of new non-performing loans is mainly the result of weak supervision and lack of good governance. Strongly criticizing looting, money laundering, directed and fake loans in the banking sector, the ABB Chairman said that these practices are very dangerous and unacceptable in any way.

Source: Dhaka Tribune January 20, 2026 17:53 UTC