Authorities have stepped up efforts to recover assets worth $2.5 billion allegedly siphoned abroad by 42 major loan defaulters, in addition to those identified in 11 priority cases. Around 35 lenders have agreed to share information on the defaulters with eight global legal and professional consulting firms to investigate and trace their assets abroad, Bangladesh Bank officials said. The initiative was discussed at a meeting between the banks concerned and Bangladesh Bank yesterday, chaired by BB Governor Md Mostaqur Rahman. The 42 entities, each with defaulted loans of more than Tk 200 crore, were identified based on data from Bangladesh Bank’s Credit Information Bureau database. They will be paid a portion of the assets recovered as their fees,” said one of the meeting attendees.