Bangladesh Bank has restructured the upcoming holiday schedule for all scheduled banks across the country ahead of Sharadiya Durga Puja, ensuring essential commercial services remain accessible before the festive shutdown. To accommodate the largest religious festival of the Hindu community, the central bank announced that all commercial banking operations will be suspended for three consecutive days from 20 to 22 October 2026.
With the official festive break immediately followed by the standard weekend on Friday 23 October and Saturday 24 October, financial institutions face a five-day general closure. Recognizing the potential strain this extended period could place on trade and commerce, the monetary authority cancelled the weekly holiday scheduled for Saturday, 17 October. Scheduled banks nationwide will now operate under standard working hours on that day, granting businesses and individual clients an extra full working day to process critical transactions before the holiday begins.
The administrative order was released on Sunday night under a circular signed by Md Abdul Mannan, Director of the Central Bank’s Department of Off-Site Supervision. The directive follows a broader public administration notification published on 7 October. By opening branches on 17 October, the banking regulator aims to clear potential backlogs, ease queue lengths, and allow clearing checks, salary disbursements, and personal remittances to settle smoothly prior to the prolonged hiatus.
While conventional customer-facing banking will pause during the five-day period, special provisions remain in force to prevent disruptions to foreign trade and logistics. Branches and dedicated servicing booths situated in maritime ports, land border stations, and airports—including customs zones—must maintain limited operations throughout the entire break from 20 to 24 October. This operational continuity adheres to the guidelines established in a circular dated 5 August 2019. Local bank authorities have been instructed to liaise directly with port, customs, and district administration officials to arrange essential staffing, secure transit, and streamline cargo clearance.
The central bank issued the binding order in the public interest using powers granted under Section 45 of the Bank Company Act, 1991. Commercial clients and individual account holders requiring urgent in-branch banking, trade credit facilities, or cash withdrawals are advised to complete their financial arrangements on or before the working weekend on 17 October.
