US and British regulators fined six major global banks nearly $6 billion Thursday for rigging the foreign exchange market and Libor interest rates.

The far-flung settlement included guilty pleas from Barclays Bank, JPMorgan Chase, Citicorp and the Royal Bank of Scotland for conspiring to manipulate the massive currency market, as well as a guilty plea from Switzerland's UBS, for violating a prior settlement of Libor charges.

A sixth bank, Bank of America, was fined $205 million by the US Federal Reserve over its foreign exchange trading operations.

The massive settlement addresses what regulators described as a brazen scheme by financial heavyweights to orchestrate trades in the $5.3-trillion-per-day global foreign exchange market in ways that cheated clients and bolstered their own profits.

Traders from banks communicated with instant messages and in a chat room referred to as "the Cartel," regulators said.

The size of penalties on individual banks ranged from the hundreds of millions of dollars to $2.4 billion for British bank Barclays, depending on a bank's involvement in the scheme and whether it had already settled with some of the agencies involved in the global investigation.

The Barclays sum was high because it had not participated in an earlier deal between the banks and some of the regulators involved.

"Put simply, Barclays employees helped rig the foreign exchange market," said Benjamin Lawsky, the head of the Department of Financial Services for New York State.

"They engaged in a brazen 'heads I win, tails you lose' scheme to rip off their clients."

UBS said that it will plead guilty to fraud in the US over the Libor interest rate-rigging scandal and pay $203 million in fresh fines.

The bank will also pay a $342-million fine (307 million euros) to the US Federal Reserve and change the way its foreign exchange system works.

The Justice Department granted the Swiss bank conditional immunity in its foreign exchange probe for cooperating with the investigation. However, Justice demanded the guilty plea on Libor after concluding UBS' role in foreign exchange breached its 2012 non-prosecution agreement on Libor.

The National Board of Revenue has extended tax exemption benefits to Grameen Bank, clearing the Nobel Prize-winning organisation from the obligation to pay Tk 77.65 crore in tax.

The tax break, which came last week, was given retrospectively for a six-month period from January 1, 2011 to June 30, 2011. 

The tax break means Grameen Bank will not have to pay the sum as tax for the six-month period, said a senior official of NBR, seeking to remain unnamed.

The decision comes two years after Grameen Bank had sought tax benefits from the government for the period, which was left out when the NBR had extended tax waiver benefit to the bank with a retrospective effect from July 1 to December 31 of 2011. 

Grameen Bank had enjoyed tax exemption from its inception in 1983.

But due to a stand-off between the government and its founder Muhammad Yunus, the government had delayed the decision on whether it would extend the tax-free facility after the privilege had expired in December 2010.

As a result, the microfinance pioneer had to pay tax for this six-month period to comply with rules. 

The bank had paid Tk 21.5 crore to the state coffer against NBR's tax claim of Tk 77.65 crore.

The NBR official said money that Grameen Bank had deposited might be adjusted with taxes if the authority does not extend the benefit after December 31 this year.

He said the decision on further extension of the tax break is yet to be taken.

Annual Managers’ Conference-2015 of Sylhet Region of National Bank Limited held at regional office, Sylhet on Friday (May 15, 2015), reports a press release. Shamsul Huda Khan, Managing Director and CEO of National Bank Limited inaugurated the conference as the Chief Guest. Md. Badiul Alam, Additional Managing Director of the bank was present on the conference as special guest.
Shamsul Huda Khan, Managing Director of the Bank in his speech expressed his gratitude to the Board of Directors and thanked the Managers and Executives for the success. He urged upon the Managers and Executives of the Bank for concerted efforts for the improvement of credit risk and credit Management for enhancement of profitability of the Bank.
To hold the top position of the banking sector, NBL must increase their client service and proper use of its human resources, he also added. High officials and managers of the 18 (Eighteen) branches of Sylhet region were also participated in this conference.

DHAKA : A total of 37 students from different disciplines of Dhaka University (DU) yesterday received IFIC Bank Trust Fund scholarships for their outstanding academic results, reports BSS.
Besides, seven young teachers and other three meritorious students have received IFIC Bank research grants for their research activities.
Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Prof Atiur Rahman distributed the research grants and scholarships among the awardees as chief guest at a function at the Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban of the university.
Dhaka University Vice-Chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique presided over the function while Treasurer Prof Md Kamal Uddin and IFIC Bank Managing Director Shah A Sarwar addressed it as special guests.
Prof Atiur Rahman said skilled manpower is a must for development of socio-economic condition in a country while proper education can help to produce skilled human resources.
Therefore, we have to invest more funds in the education sector, he added.
The BB governor urged the corporate houses including banking sector to come forward with helping hands to develop education and research at the universities.
While speaking, the DU Vice-Chancellor Prof AAMS Arefin Siddique called upon the teachers, students and researchers to work together for up-grading university education into international standard.
He also urged the various bank authorities to provide financial support to meritorious students to make them as global standard graduates.
The recipients of IFIC Bank research grants are Associate Prof Md Shafiqul Islam, Lecturer Md Fazlul Hoque and Lecturer Mohammad Monzur Hossain Khan (Nuclear Engineering), Lecturer Ishrat Ferdous, Lecturer S.M. Kamrul Hasan and Lecturer Md Shakhawat Hossain and Lecturer Dewan Md Anamul Hoque (Disaster Science & Management).
The recipients of IFIC Bank Trust Fund Scholarships are Md Mahmudur Rahman Khan, K.M. Azam Chowdhury and Mohammad Shahinoor Rahman (Oceanography), Ripon Bishas, Sanjoy Sarker, Zubiur Syed, Habibur Rahman, Md Zafar Dewan, Md Hossain Shadat, Md Iqbal Hossain, Asfaqur Rahman, Md Kowshar Hamid, A.B.S. Manik Munshi, Md Sabbir Hossain, Suranjana Shaha, Syfur Rahman, Ruhania Tarannum, Busra Nafreen Sattar, Tarique Mohammad Salman, Md Abu Baker Talukder and Mohammad Pabel Kabir (Nuclear Engineering). Humayun Kabir, Md Tarequr Rahman, Shanta Islam and Maksuda Gazi (Banking & Insurance), Mahbubul Haque, Rojina Akter, Rafiqul Islam Rubel and Amena Khatun (Management Information Systems), Md Reyad-ul-Islam, Amena Akter, Md Biplob Hossain and Farjana Nasreen (International Business), Abul Kalam Azad, Abu Syed, Ismat Jahan and Farjana Akter (Tourism & Hospitality Management).
Besides, Md Masud-ul-Alam, Synthia Towhidi and Abdullah-Al-Hasan (Oceanography) have received IFIC Bank research grants.

Agence France-Presse . Singapore