North South University’s (NSU) School of Humanities and Social Sciences (SHSS) hosted a seminar, as part of the NSU SHSS Faculty Seminar Series on ‘Camouflaging Crisis: A Political Economy Analysis of Non-performing Loan Suppression in Bangladesh’ on 23 September 2025 at the NSU SHSS Conference Room. This session accumulated a diverse audience of faculty members, academics, students, and economics enthusiasts. The speaker for this session was Dr. AKM Waresul Karim, Professor of Accounting and Finance, and Dean of the School of Business and Economics (SBE) at NSU, a press release said.
Dr. Md. Rizwanul Islam, Professor of Law and Dean of SHSS at NSU, moderated the session and provided the opening remarks, where he highlighted how the sanctioning of large bank loans was at times carried out without scrupulous scrutiny and acknowledged the several instances when the Supreme Court judgment demonstrates mismanagement in the loan sanctioning process, which ultimately contributed to non-performing loans.
In his presentation, Professor Karim mentioned that thewidespread suppression of non-performing loans (NPLs) can be explained by George Stigler’s regulatory capture theory, where authoritative entities use their influence to manipulate regulatory bodies for their own benefit. He further elaborated that the Nonperforming Loan (NPL) situation in Bangladesh is severe, with the ratio reaching 27.09% by June 2025 and a volume of Tk 5.76 trillion. This crisis is a result of political capture, the usurpation of financial institutions, and a lack of corporate and moral governance. He also suggested solutions to address the crisis, such as punishing the perpetrators and having them buy back their toxic assets.
Md. Zakir Hossain, Deputy Managing Director & CRO (Acting) Mercantile Bank PLC, served as the discussant. He provided an industry perspective on the banking sector, corroborating many of the challenges highlighted in the presentation and offering practical insights into how financial institutions manage risk and regulatory pressure. He also added that Bangladesh has the highest non-performing loan rate in Asia.
Following this, Prof. Abdul Hannan Chowdhury, the Honourable Vice-Chancellor at NSU, graced the program as the Chief Guest. He shared that the regulatory bodies failed in the banking sector in the last decade, through systematic issues. He concluded by highlighting the huge opportunity for young entrepreneurs for the betterment of the nation and hoped that this seminar would encourage new ideas for policies in order to reform the financial sector for a promising future for Bangladesh. During the Q&A segment, faculty members engaged with Professor Karim on the political and economic consequences of NPL suppression and its effect on Bangladesh’s financial stability, and the interactive discussion captivated everyone at the event.
