Bangladesh Bank relaxes internal credit rating rules

The Bangladesh Bank has relaxed the internal credit rating risk assessment for the borrowers in a bid to fight adverse impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The BB in a circular issued on Tuesday lowered the risk assessment score by 5 percentage points in four categories — Excellent, Good, Marginal and Unacceptable.  

In the Excellent category the earlier aggregated score was 80 percent which was lowered to 75 percent.

Likewise, in the Unacceptable category the minimum score was set at 55 percent from 60 percent.

Bankers said the relaxation would ease the borrowers in their credit rating while getting new loans or rescheduling.

Shafiqul Alam, former managing director of Jamuna Bank, said such a move will help the borrowers and the banks in a bid to fight the impact of Covid-19.

“I will also have an indirect impact on the non-performing loans,” he told the Business Insider Bangladesh.      

The central bank circular said while assessing the credit rating risk banks can choose among financial statements of 2019 or 2020 fiscal year.