DHAKA — The Bangladeshi government has set aside 400 billion taka ($3.2 billion) in its upcoming budget to rescue struggling lenders and prevent a widespread financial crisis. Despite this emergency capital injection, economists warn that cash alone cannot cure the deep-rooted governance failures and high levels of nonperforming loans that have afflicted the country’s banking sector for years.

Regulators are especially focused on Islami Bank Bangladesh due to its systemic importance and recent accusations of improper lending practices. The severity of the unrest was highlighted in June, when police were deployed outside the institution’s Dhaka headquarters to monitor protests targeting the bank’s leadership—a tense scene captured by Getty Images. Financial experts insist that averting a long-term disaster will require elusive structural reforms, as a financial bailout alone cannot fix the industry’s fundamental flaws.