Bangladesh Bank has expressed regret over publishing incorrect information regarding the merger of six banks by July this year.

Some newspapers recently published reports quoting BB Governor Ahsan H Mansur that the central bank will merge six banks by July this year, which were weakened due to irregularities and loan fraud.

“The news is false and baseless indeed,” Arif Hossain, spokesperson of the central bank, said in a press statement floated for the media on Friday.

Of the total six banks, five are Islamic banks, while another one is National Bank (NBL), which maintains traditional banking principles, Hossain said.

As the NBL is a traditional bank, it has no scope to be merged with the Islamic banks, he said in the statement.

The banks are First Security Islami Bank, Social Islami Bank, Union Bank, Global Bank, EXIM Bank and National Bank.

Of these, five were under the control of the S Alam Group, while the remaining one was under the control of businessman Nazrul Islam Majumder.