The legal barriers must be removed to reduce the non-performing loans (NPLs), bankers said at a meeting with the Bangladesh Bank.

Bangladesh Bank organized a meeting with the managing directors of all the banks, as well as legal experts at its office on Wednesday.

Fazle Kabir, the central bank governor, chaired the meeting.

A four-member team of legal experts, including Law Commission Chairman ABM Khairul Haque and Bangladesh International Arbitration Centre CEO Muhammad A (Rumee) Ali, as well as managing directors of the scheduled banks attended the meeting.

After the meeting, Md Syed Mahbubur Rahman, president of the Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB) chairman and managing director of Dhaka Bank, told reporters the main objective of this meeting was to reduce non-performing loans (NPLs).

“The legal barriers must be removed. Hopefully something will happen through this meeting. Legal experts have called for creating social movements against the defaulters,” he added.

“If there is a need to change any law , the initiative will be taken to do so,” Bangladesh Bank spokesman Serajul Islam said.

“Bankers complained that if they filed a lawsuit against the defaulters, they (defaulters) come out with stay orders from the court,” he added.

Other agendas of the meeting include amending several acts and laws, including the Bank Company Act, Bankruptcy Act, Negotiable Instruments Act, and the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) regulation, Bangladesh Bank sources said.