BB blasts banks for putting extra burden on staff
Says female officials face ‘gender harassment’
A file photo shows a branch of a private commercial bank in Dhaka. Bangladesh Bank on Thursday asked schedule banks not to give extra burden on their staff
Bangladesh Bank on Thursday asked scheduled banks not to impose extra pressure on their officials to collect deposits and not to keep them (officials) in banks’ branches for extra hours after closing the daily work. The central bank found allegations that the female officials of the banks are facing ‘gender harassment’ as management of the banks stuck them (female officials) till 7pm to 8pm after closing the daily work of the branches without any reason, said BB deputy governor SK Sur Chowdhury. The central bank said it would take punitive measures against the banks if they continue to impose extra pressure on their officials to collect deposits and perpetrate gender harassment to their female officials. The directions came from a quarterly bankers meeting between the BB and the banks at the central bank headquarters in the capital. BB governor Atiur Rahman presided over the meeting while managing directors of the banks were present. BB governor at the meeting said that competition among the banks had increased recently as they (banks) were now trying to collect more deposits from the clients by imposing extra-burden on their officials. The central bank asked the banks not to impose any deposit collection target for their probationary officers as such type of target are not in conformity with human banking. The clients are deprived of getting adequate services from the banks as the officers are busy to collect the deposits in a bid to increase the banks’ profit, Atiur said. He asked the banks to recruit more female officials and to appoint women bankers as deputy managing directors. BB deputy governor SK Sur Chowdhury after the meeting told reporters that some banks had recently sacked their officials without issuing any show-cause notice saying that their performance was not satisfactory. The BB asked the banks not to sack massively and to give more chance to improve their performance, he said. Some banks are dilly-dallying to pay the provident and gratuity fund if any official wants to leave the bank, he said. The BB asked the banks to make payment against the provident and gratuity funds in due time, otherwise the central bank would be compelled to take action, he said. The BB asked the banks to reschedule the defaulted loans following the existing circular as they (banks) frequently sought no-objection certificate to do it by giving extra rebate to the defaulters, he said. The banks should follow the existing circular for loan rescheduling as 200 applications, where the clients sought to give lower down payment to the banks, are now pending in the central bank, according to a bankers’ meeting minutes. The BB asked the banks to set a minimum service charge ceiling for issuing their debit card as some banks are imposing excess charges on the products, Sur said. He said the BB had asked the banks to continue their efforts to decrease the rate of interest on lending adding that the rate, however, decreased two per cent in the last two months. The BB asked the banks to increase their loan disbursement to the real-estate sector as the entrepreneurs of the sector alleged that they did not get adequate loans from the banks. The central bank asked the banks to increase the job-age limit of the sons and daughters of the freedom fighters to 32-yea.
News:New Age/1-May-2015Janata Bank holds AGM
Shaikh Md Wahid-uz-Zaman, Chairman of Janata Bank Limited, presides over the 8th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the bank at the banks head office in Dhaka on Thursday.
Janata Bank Limited organised the 8th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the bank at the bank’s head office in Dhaka on Thursday. Shaikh Md Wahid-uz-Zaman, Chairman of the bank, presided over the meeting, said a press release. Government’s representative Md Fazlul Haque, Additional Secretary, Bank and Financial Institutions Division, Directors of Janata Bank Md. Emdadul Hoque, Nagibul Islam Dipu, Dr. RM Debnath, Syed Bazlul Karim, BPM, Prof. Mohammed Moinuddin, Md Abu Naser, Sangita Ahmed, Dr. Nitai Chandra Nag, AKM Kamrul Islam, FCA, Md Mahabubur Rahman Hiron, chief executive officer and managing director Md Abdus Salam and company secretary Md Mosaddake-Ul-Alam, Deputy Managing Directors and General Managers were present on the occasion. During the AGM, the bank approved the audited financial report of 2014 and appointments of auditors for 2015 including other relevant matters.
News:Daily Sun/1-May-2015Islami Bank pours huge fund in agriculture
Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited has been contributing significantly in the countrys agriculture sector.
Since its inception, the bank has been working for development of agricultural sector, which is the livelihood of 80 percent of people of the country directly or indirectly.
Over the last 5 years, the bank invested more than Tk 60 billion in agriculture sector. The bank also trained two-and-a-half million farmers on using modern technology in cultivation.
The bank is also giving priority investment in agricultural marketing, agricultural support industries and storing of agro goods. The bank is contributing to achieve the countrys economic prosperity through implementation of investment projects like Agricultural Implements Investment Scheme, Rural Development Scheme (RDS) and Small Business Investment Scheme, according to sources.
Under the directive of the Bangladesh Bank to invest 2.5 percent of total investment of each scheduled bank in agriculture and rural sectors, Islami Bank had to invest Tk 75.5 billion in the last fiscal in the same sector.
The bank has invested a total of Tk 1.319 billion in this sector, which is 9 percent of disbursed amount among all banks and 23 percent among the private banks in the sector.
Banks needlessly holding back staff beyond office hours
The central bank governor yesterday accused banks of holding up employees, including female staff, way past the banking hours, a move that can be termed a serious allegation against the institutions.
“Bank officials and employees, even the female staff, are unnecessarily told to stay in the office on the pretext of work even after the close of banking hours at 6:00pm. This is not humane,” Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman said at a meeting with chief executives of all banks. BB has been receiving complaints of forced resignations, suspensions of yearly increments and promotions, terminations or removal of employees and later creating obstacles for receiving their dues, he said.
In many cases, the administrative measures were taken against the bank officials and employees unjustly or intentionally, he said.
There have also been allegations that many banks have a clause in their human resource policy which allows them to terminate an employee without showing any cause.
“This may result in the destruction of a long banking career of good officials. Such practices may turn out to be obstructions to the development of the banking sector,” Rahman said, adding that strict measures will be taken if the allegations are proved.
About the BB governor's allegations, several private and state bank officials told The Daily Star that some high officials do not start work until afternoon, due to which many are held back until night.
“I don't know what happens in other banks, but Mutual Trust Bank always encourages, especially the female staff, to leave office before 6pm,” Anis A Khan, managing director of MTB, said.
“In fact, during winter times, when it gets dark earlier, I encourage the female staff to even leave at 5pm,” he added.
Meanwhile, Rahman also said the banks have been setting illogical deposit collection targets for their employees.
As a result, the officials are less interested in serving their clients and more focused on bringing in new deposits, he said. “This has created an unhealthy competition.”
The central bank governor also said the banks are setting profit targets beyond their abilities and not giving proper attention to business development.
“The chief executives of banks also accept such illogical profit targets to appease the boards. And to meet the targets, the officials resort to various immoral tactics. It creates scope for irregularities and fraud.”
Subsequently, he urged banks to be more cautious when it comes to collecting deposits and earning profits.
Rahman yesterday completed six years at the helm of BB. At the meeting, all MDs congratulated him and said during this period the foreign exchange reserves crossed the unprecedented $24 billion mark. The governor also encouraged the bankers to appoint female deputy managing directors, and asked them to fix the maximum age limit of entry into service for children of freedom fighters at 32 years.
News:The Daily Star/1-May-2015Prime Bank
Prime Bank was awarded for contributing to remittance in a programme titled Investment, Remittance & Financial Branding organised by the Centre for Non-Resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) at a city hotel recently. In presence of HT Imam and Gowhar Rizvi, Advisers to Prime Minister, Dr Atiur Rahman, Governor, Bangladesh Bank on behalf of Centre for NRBs handed over the award to Ahmed Kamal Khan Chowdhury, Managing Director of Prime Bank Limited. Chairman of Centre for NRBs SM Shekil Chowdhury was also present in the programme.
News:Financial Exress/30-Apr-2015