ICB Islamic Bank (ICBIBL) has recently launched the Western Union Remittance Service as a sub-agent in association with Trust Bank Ltd. Muhammad Shafiq Bin Abdullah, MD & CEO of ICB Islamic Bank and Ishtiaque Ahmed Chowdhury, MD & CEO of Trust Bank signed the deal on behalf of their respective organisations.

Speakers at a discussion have urged the branch level bankers to put in their best efforts to resist money laundering and other malpractices in banks for the sake of uprooting various social crimes associated with those, reports BSS. Terming the border-belt districts like Rajshahi and Chapainawabganj as crime-prone zone, they said bankers must remain sincere and alert so that money laundering and financing of terrorism could be reduced to a great extent.
They were addressing the inaugural session of a three-day training course titled “Prevention of Money Laundering and Malpractices in Banks” for the branch level bank officials of Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RAKUB) at its training institute in Rajshahi city yesterday. The main focus of the course was to disseminate updated knowledge and strategies to prevent malpractices associated with money laundering. A total of 35 bankers ranking from officers to principal officers is participating in the training workshop.
Officers in all 378 branches of the 16 districts under Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions will be brought under the training programme in phases.
RAKUB Deputy Managing Director Abdul Khaleque Khan, addressed the session as the chief guest with institute Principal Mozammel Haque in the chair.
Senior faculty member Taleb Ali and faculty members Mobinur Rashid Sarker, Ronojit Kumar Sen and SM Ahsan Ullah are conducting the course.
As the largest development partner in the agricultural sector of the northwest Bangladesh, RAKUB plays a vital role to earn economic emancipation and free the nation from poverty and hunger through boosting credit-flow to the potential agricultural fields, the speakers mentioned.
They asked the participants to discharge their duties with utmost sincerity and honesty to brighten the image of the bank.
The speakers emphasized the importance of due diligence and proper ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) guidelines and advised everyone to remain fully compliant with money laundering prevention (MLP) and combating the financing of terrorism (CFT) rules and regulations.
Khaleque Khan advised the officials to be more cautious and proactive in preventing money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as complying with all other applicable regulations regarding the issue to protect and enhance the image of RAKUB as a compliant bank.
The speakers said the free flow of illegal money always creates a deviant situation in addition to the spread of various social crimes in the society.
So, it is high time that bankers should efficiently handle situations arising due to money laundering, as the present government as well as the Central Bank is giving highest priority in this regard, they added.

Mutual Trust Bank Ltd. (MTB) has recently handed over a cheque for BDT 4 lac to Assistance for Blind Children (ABC) as the annual educational expenses of ten (10) blind children living in the ABC dormitories, issued in a press release. Md. Hashem Chowdhury, Additional Managing Director & Chief Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer (CAMLCO), MTB, handed over the cheque to Prof. Dr. Md. Saleh Uddin, President, ABC, at a simple ceremony held at the bank’s MTB Centre at Gulshan 1, Dhaka. K M Zainul Abedin, General Secretary, Munira Khan, Treasurer and Aftab ul Islam, Convener Fund Raising and EC Member, ABC Quamrul Islam Chowdhury, MTB Deputy Managing Director and Group Company Secretary, Md. Zakir Hussain, Deputy Managing Director & Group Chief Risk Officer, MTB, along with other senior officials of both the organizations were also present at the occasion.

Xinhua: CANBERRA: Growth in Australian bank lending to China has slowed after a period of accelerated expansion as foreign banks take a more cautious approach.
Australian media reported Monday that the annual growth rate of Australian bank exposure to China dropped 10 per cent last year from a high of 70 per cent in 2013. Data from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) showed that in the December quarter, the banks' exposure dropped 700 million US dollars to 33.7 billion US dollars.
The surge in international lending to China over the past few years, that was primarily driven by lending to banks, was experiencing a global slowdown, the BIS report said.
"Claims on China contracted by 51 billion US dollars in the fourth quarter of 2014, bringing down their year-on-year growth rate to 21 per cent from 40 per cent at end September 2014," the 
report said.
Across emerging Asia-Pacific nations, cross-border lending increased by 214 billion US dollars last year, with Indonesia leading the charge with 19 per cent growth.

Bangladesh Bank on Sunday approved another non-bank financial institution aiming to attract venture capital, said central bank officials. The decision came at a meeting of the BB’s board of directors at the central bank headquarters in the capital with BB governor Atiur Rahman in the chair. The approved NBFI is Alliance Leasing and Finance Ltd. BB officials said the central bank had approved the NBFI on political consideration as the ruling party-backed people are behind its ownership. Besides, some investors of Sri Lanka will also be involved in the new NBFI. The BB board has decided to issue letters of intent to approve the NBFI, giving it a period of six months to comply with the existing rules and regulations for setting up new financial institution, central bank deputy governor SK Sur Chowdhuray told New Age on Sunday. The BB will issue licence to the NBFI after its proper compliance with all conditions, he said, adding that loan defaulters and tax evaders would not be allowed to become the directors of the new financial institution, he said. The authorities concerned of the approved NBFI will have to deposit the amount of their paid-up capital worth Tk 100 crore with the central bank, before starting its operation, another BB official said. The central bank issued letters of intents on March 5, 2014 to two more NBFIs namely CAPM Venture Capital Finance and Meridian Finance Investment on political consideration. The BB asked the two institutions to comply with the rules and regulations by six months to get licences from the central bank. But, the two institutions are yet to fulfil the rules and regulation resulting that they did not get the licences yet, the BB official said. Currently, 31 NBFIs are running their businesses in the country.