Standard Bank’s Services to be Temporarily Suspended in Preparation for Shariah-compliant operations from January 2021

A temporary shut-down of Bangladesh-based Standard Bank’s (SB) operations has been approved by Bangladesh Bank (BB) in order to assist SB’s completion of its migration process, according to a notice from BB.

On the 4th of February 2020, BB approved the conversion of SB into a fully Shariah-compliant banking entity.

The approval was in line with Section 45 of the Bank Company Act, 1991. According to the notice, SB’s services will remain closed from the 30th of December 2020 till the 4th of January 2021.

As part of the transition, SB had sought approval from BB for a temporary closure of its services linked to the Bangladesh Electronic Funds Transfer Network (BEFTN), the Bangladesh Automated Clearing House (BACH), digital banking, and the re...