Banks reopen after 10-day Eid holiday

Regular services resume in keeping with the usual timetable

Banks across Bangladesh have reopened after a 10-day vacation for Eid-ul-Azha.

Regular services resumed in keeping with the usual timetable on Sunday.

Banks enjoyed an extended holiday from Jun 5 to Jun 14, halting all transactions except cash withdrawals from ATM booths.

However, due to the extended holiday, the ATMs of many banks faced cash shortages.

Earlier, a nine-day holiday had been declared by the government for the Eid-ul-Fitr celebrations.

On Sunday, banks in the Motijheel and Gulshan areas drew high footfall as customers looked to conduct important transactions that had been on hold during the holidays.

All banking activities, including deposits and withdrawals, cheque processing, loan repayments, loan authorisations, and opening of letters of credit (LC), were running regularly.

Transactions will take place from 10am to 4pm, while banks will remain open until 6pm.

The turnout at state-owned banks was relatively smaller compared to private institutions, where the queues at counters were quite long.

Shafiqul Islam, general manager of Sonali Bank in Motijheel, said clients had been coming in since the morning. However, the crowd was not very thick, he said, adding they expected more people later in the day.

Ikram Kabir, head of communications at BRAC Bank, said: "As per the circular of Bangladesh Bank, some bank branches were open on the 11th and 12th [of June]. Banking activities continued there. Moreover, some branches were open on the 5th and 6th before Eid."

He said clients were coming to deposit and withdraw money. “There is a crowd in the branches."