Which bank collapsed in 1991 after the international fraud scandal involving its founder Agha Hasan Abedi?

Bank of Credit and Commerce International collapsed in 1991 after an international fraud scandal involving its founder Agha Hasan Abedi.

BCCI was founded in Pakistan in 1972 and expanded rapidly through a complex network of branches and subsidiaries. Investigators later found evidence of concealed losses, fraudulent loans, money laundering, and weak or misleading financial reporting.

The bank was shut down by regulators in July 1991 after authorities in several countries acted together. Its collapse affected depositors and exposed failures in cross-border supervision, because no single regulator had a complete view of the group’s worldwide operations.

The scandal became a major financial-crime case. It also attracted attention because BCCI had connections with political figures, intelligence-linked networks, and wealthy clients, although individual relationships did not all imply criminal conduct.