Commercial Automated Teller Machine (ATM) networks throughout Dhaka are facing severe operational strains, leaving numerous bank clients unable to complete cash transactions during the intense retail rush preceding Eid-ul-Azha.
The crisis has intensified following the closure of physical bank branches for a scheduled seven-day festive vacation, forcing the public to rely almost entirely on automated terminals. Although the central bank, Bangladesh Bank, issued an explicit directive ordering all commercial lenders to maintain uninterrupted ATM and digital banking operations during the holidays, widespread cash shortages and unannounced withdrawal caps continue to disrupt consumer access.
Field Observations and System Outages
Journalistic inspections across prominent residential and commercial sectors—specifically Malibagh, Rampura, Mouchak, Purana Paltan, and Moghbazar—revealed that a significant percentage of terminals are entirely non-functional. The outages are particularly concentrated among financially vulnerable commercial banks that failed to secure adequate paper currency reserves prior to the branch closures.
The operational strategies and systemic restrictions observed across Dhaka’s financial network are detailed in the table below:
| Monitored Financial Districts | Observed Terminal Status | Imposed Counter-Measures |
| Malibagh & Mouchak | Extended terminal downtime | Access restricted entirely to native bank cardholders. |
| Rampura & Moghbazar | Widespread depletion of currency | Emergency cash reloads increased up to four times daily. |
| Purana Paltan | High-volume client queues | Strict transaction value limits applied to external cards. |
Institutional Limits and Liquidity Crunches
To ration their dwindling currency supplies and protect their core account holders, several solvent banks have modified their terminal configurations. These measures include rejecting transactions initiated by cards from competing institutions and lowering the maximum cash allowance per transaction. These sudden limitations have severely compounded the difficulties faced by families attempting to fund their holiday purchases.
A senior executive overseeing the card division of a major private commercial bank commented on the operational pressure under anonymity:
“The volume of cash withdrawals has been immense, requiring our replenishment teams to reload machines up to four times a day. Certain institutions facing acute liquidity crunches completely neglected to supply cash to their ATM booths, failing even to raise emergency funds through the interbank spot market.”
Impact of the Interbank Migration
This structural failure by undercapitalised lenders has created a domino effect across the wider financial sector. Left with no alternative, consumers holding accounts with cash-strapped banks have migrated to the automated networks of compliant, liquid institutions.
This massive influx of external cardholders has placed unsustainable pressure on the infrastructure of well-prepared banks, rapidly draining their cash reserves and transforming a localized liquidity deficit into a widespread urban banking shortage during the holiday season.