China has become the centre of gravity for Bangladesh’s external economy since the August 2024 political changeover, and the country’s banks are rapidly retooling to match. With Chinese firms taking on a growing share of large infrastructure contracts and Chinese nationals becoming more visible on the ground, fourteen local and foreign banks have opened dedicated “China Desks.” Several have also established representative offices inside China.
The desks give priority to Mandarin speakers and Chinese citizens, conduct transactions in yuan, and provide services tailored to Chinese companies and their Bangladeshi partners: mega-project account opening, project finance, guarantees and tax-related transactions. The most recent additions are One Bank and NCC Bank.
They join an earlier group that includes Standard Chartered Bangladesh, HSBC Bangladesh, Bank of Ceylon, Habib Bank, Premier Bank, Mutual Trust Bank (MTB), Eastern Bank (EBL), United Commercial Bank (UCB), Prime Bank, The City Bank, BRAC Bank and Midland Bank.
The expansion reflects a broader reorientation that has gathered pace since the fall of the Awami League government.
Under the interim administration led by Muhammad Yunus, and amid the political dynamics surrounding figures such as Tarique Rahman of the BNP, decision-makers have shown a clear preference for deepening ties with China while bypassing India—Beijing’s principal regional rival. Chinese companies have secured a string of projects in strategically sensitive locations, including Mongla port development, a drone factory, hospital and airport construction works, and the Teesta water management project near the Indian border. These contracts have increased the need for specialised local banking support.
China is already Bangladesh’s single largest trading partner. Construction materials for major infrastructure, equipment for solar and thermal power plants, technology-sector inputs, and raw materials and capital machinery for the ready-made garment industry are predominantly imported from China, along with most electrical and consumer goods. To facilitate the flow, Bangladeshi banks maintain direct relationships and nostro accounts with leading Chinese institutions such as Bank of China, ICBC, CCB and ABC.
According to Chinese embassy figures, bilateral trade in the first half of 2026 reached $12.8 billion, 10.6 percent higher than the same period a year earlier. Accumulated Chinese investment in Bangladesh stands at roughly $3.6 billion. In 2025, Chinese foreign direct investment rose by about 50 percent year-on-year. Embassy data further indicate that five Chinese entities have invested more than $100 million since the formation of the post-August 2024 government, creating an estimated 20,000 jobs. Bangladesh, however, continues to run a large trade deficit: it exports less than 10 percent of the value of what it imports from China. To attract more investment, a China Economic Zone has been developed in Anwara, Chittagong.
Bankers describe the China Desks as a direct response to rising demand. “Trade with China is constantly increasing. Earlier it was mostly imports. Now Chinese companies are executing large projects, so their need for local banking services has grown,” said Syed Mahbubur Rahman, managing director of Mutual Trust Bank.
The timeline of the desks tracks the growth in Chinese activity. Standard Chartered launched its China Trade and Investment Desk in 2016 and strengthened it in 2021, while also hiring Chinese staff and participating in syndicate financing. Premier Bank has served Chinese clients through foreign-trade and FDI help desks since 2012; MTB has done so since 2018. Eastern Bank opened a representative office in Guangzhou in 2019 and a dedicated business desk in Dhaka in 2023. UCB introduced a special service counter for Chinese citizens in 2019, the same year Prime Bank and HSBC launched their China Desks. Habib Bank followed in 2020, The City Bank in 2022 (later expanded), and Bank of Ceylon in 2023 with yuan-focused services. BRAC Bank set up a Mandarin-staffed China Dedicated Desk under its corporate banking division in 2024; Midland Bank opened its desk in 2025. One Bank and NCC Bank joined in 2026. One Bank has already processed about $20 million in transactions through the new unit.
Muhit Rahman, managing director of One Bank, told Prothom Alo that the desk forms part of the bank’s “global corridor strategy.” Its purpose, he said, is to strengthen trade, investment and economic connectivity between Bangladesh and China while offering integrated and simpler banking services to companies from both countries.
The proliferation of China Desks therefore mirrors a larger pattern: rising Chinese commercial and infrastructure involvement in Bangladesh, accelerated by the political realignment that followed the Awami League’s ouster in August 2024.