RAJSHAHI: Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman said the commercial banks have already been asked to keep half of their new branches in rural areas.

He also said the central bank would launch agent banking in rural areas soon as around half the total population of the country still remained out of the banking service.

Dr Atiur Rahman was addressing the inaugural session of regional banking supervision programme, held at a city convention center, organised by Bangladesh Bank, Rajshahi branch Sunday.

Later, he also took part in a farmers’ conference in the city and announced that a specialised cold storage would be built at Iswardi upazilla of Pabna to preserve locally produced vegetables.

Over 150 farmers across the country gathered at the conference, organised by Bangladesh Farmers Development Association, at Alo Asa School premises.

The farmers presented the samples of their produces at the conference.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 17th July 2012