Banks resist Sikder asset recovery deal

Seven banks are resisting the proposed fee structure of a UK-based asset-recovery consortium seeking to repatriate $500 million in assets allegedly siphoned abroad by Sikder Group, as Bangladesh Bank presses lenders to sign an agreement before the offer expires on 4 December.

R-One, the consortium, has traced $500 million allegedly laundered to the Cayman Islands, Thailand, Dubai and the United States, officials said. The assets form part of an estimated $1 billion believed to have been transferred overseas by the business group.

At a meeting Sunday chaired by Bangladesh Bank Governor Md Mostaqur Rahman, representatives of the central bank shared the consortium’s findings with lenders and discussed the proposed recovery costs.

“The recovery process will involve costs. The foreign recovery agent has submitted a roadmap, and the meeting discussed how much of the recovery cost each bank would bear,” central bank spokesperson Arief Hossain Khan said.

According to a participating bank chairman who requested anonymity, R-One proposed charging $125 million to recover $500 million. Bank chairmen and senior executives opposed the arrangement, arguing that the consortium should instead receive a percentage of the assets actually recovered.

Bangladesh Bank officials said the consortium would make a full effort to recover the funds within five years, but the assurance failed to convince some bankers. The banks reportedly accepted the recovery roadmap while remaining reluctant to make advance payments.

Agrani Bank Chairman Syed Abu Naser Bukhtear Ahmed said his bank was willing to sign the agreement after discussing it with other board members. He supported paying the recovery agent a commission based on recovered assets.

A central bank representative said Bangladesh had little experience recovering stolen bank assets from abroad, leaving lenders unfamiliar with the work of international litigation firms. The consortium, meanwhile, would be taking financial risks without certainty that the assets could be recovered.

Sikder Group expanded rapidly from around 2009 into banking, insurance, power, healthcare, real estate and other sectors. Its decline accelerated after founder Zainul Haque Sikder died in 2021. Following the fall of the Awami League government in August 2024, family members began leaving Bangladesh.

Separately, City Group faces a deadline to make the down payment required to regularise loans exceeding Tk266 billion borrowed from 36 banks. Bankers told Rahman they could not reschedule many of the loans by the end of September because the conglomerate had failed to pay the required amount.

The governor asked City Group to make the payment by the end of October to avoid loan classification. Bankers estimate the group needs about Tk40 billion in working capital to import raw materials and sustain production.