The Customs Bond Commissionerate of Dhaka has asked banks to open letters of credit in favour of active firms only.

The field office of the National Board of Revenue also directed the banks not to give overseas trade-related services to the companies that face regulatory measures for noncompliance with bonded warehouse rules.

The commissionerate has recently taken a series of measures that include listing of non-existent firms, putting a freeze on bank accounts of 123 companies and 385 directors of these companies and suspension of many bond licences.

The number of active firms having bond licences is 3,793 now, with the number of total bond licensees being 6,227. The bond licences of the rest 2,434 have been declared inactive, officials said.

The field office of the revenue authority said the firms whose licences were made inactive owe Tk 3,790.53 crore to the state.  "We have sought revenue from these companies for misuse of the bonded warehouse facility," said Md Shahidul Islam, a commissioner of the Customs Bond Commissionerate.

Bonded warehouses allow exporters to store taxable imports, mainly raw materials, in secured areas without payment of duties and taxes, and use them in manufacturing for export.

The authorities issue bond licences to export-oriented firms, allowing them to import raw materials at zero duty on condition that they will make finished products with the same imported raw materials and export them.

Of the firms with inactive bond licences, 75 percent represent the apparel sector followed by firms that make accessories and packaging items for export-oriented industries, according to the commissionerate.

In a letter to banks last week, the commissionerate said it has taken a series of measures to facilitate proper functioning of firms having bond licences, curb duty evasion and bring about transparency and accountability. 

The field office said it updates status of the firms having bond licences on its website regularly and asked bankers to check the status before extending overseas trade related services. "You are requested to open LCs, issue PRC (proceed realisation certificates) and perform other lawful jobs in favour of only active firms," said the letter signed by Islam.

A recent survey found that some 476 factories have vanished after taking tax and duty-free benefits under the bonded warehouse facility, costing the country hundreds of crores in lost revenues.

Dhaka: Executive Development Program on BASEL-III implementation in Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited held at Mohammad Younus Auditorium of the Bank on Saturday, reports in press release. Mohammad Abdul Mannan, Managing Director of the Bank, addressed the program as chief guest. Presided over by Md. Abdul Jabbar, Executive Vice President and Head of Risk Management Wing of the Bank, Chowdhury Md. Feroz Bin Alam, General Manager and Dipti Rani Hazra, Joint Director, Banking Regulation and Policy Department of Bangladesh Bank presented key note papers on BASEL-III and BASEL-II respectively in the program. Muhammad Abul Bashar, Md. Habibur Rahman Bhuiyan, FCA, Md. Mahbub-ul-Alam Deputy Managing Directors along with top executives of the Bank were present in the program attended by executives and officials from Head office, different Zones and Branches of the Bank. Mohammad Abdul Mannan as chief guest said, accountability, discipline and confidence have been established in the Banking sector through implementation of BASEL policies. He said that Islami Bank is liable to its entire people. The Bank keeps its competency in implementing BASEL policies. He called upon the executives to play pioneering role in the Banking sector in compliance of BASEL policies by pursuing expertise on it. The Mission of IBBL is to provide high-quality bio specimens and associated data, foster scientific excellence, catalyse partnerships and support research that translates scientific discoveries into new healthcare solutions. Vision of IBBL is to be an international centre of excellence in biobanking and to accelerate the use of personalised healthcare for the benefit of Luxembourg. Vision of IBBL is to accomplish our aims; we have identified a series of strategic goals for the immediate future: Vision of IBBL is to establish all of the necessary core activities for biobanking in Luxembourg
Vision of IBBL is to enhance the technological services available to the research community, to support the four priority research programmes in the personalised medicine initiative in Luxembourg (Cancer, Diabetes, Parkinson’s Disease, and a Normal Population Cohort), to seek partnership opportunities in all areas of its activities, to read more about the steps we have made towards accomplishing our goals, and how we intend to move forward into the future, take a look at Our History and Annual Report.

The 479th meeting of Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of Al-Arafah Islami Bank Limited was held at the Board Room of the Bank on 19 March, 2015. Alhajj Abdus Samad, Chairman of the Committee presided over the meeting. The Meeting reviewed overall business performance of the Bank, reports a press release.
Vice Chairman of the Committee Alhajj Abdul Malek Mollah, Members Alhajj Nazmul Ahsan Khaled, Alhajj Hafez Md. Enayet Ullah, Managing Director of the Bank Md. Habibur Rahman, Board Secretary Md. Mofazzal Hossain, Deputy Managing Directors Kazi Towhidul Alam, Mohammad Abdul Jalil, Md. Fazlul Karim, Muhammad Mahmoodul Haque and other Executives were present in the meeting.

Bangladesh Bank yesterday unveiled a new policy to provide good borrowers with incentives, including a 10 percent rebate on interests, in an effort to eliminate wilful loan default culture.
Before this, the central bank formulated various policies to rescue struggling big borrowers but never did they come up with any institutional policy to encourage good lending culture in Bangladesh, the central bank said in a notice. 
The move comes nearly two months after the central bank approved a restructuring policy for large borrowers, providing them a maximum of 12 years to repay loans above Tk 500 crore.
While justifying the policy for large borrowers at the time, Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman disclosed plans to prepare a rebate policy to reward borrowers who have repaid their loans on time.
The central bank yesterday came up with the definition of good borrowers. Good borrowers must not have any classified loans in the last three years.
In case of current loans, if borrowers make regular repayment for three consecutive years, banks will have to provide a 10 percent rebate on interests at the end of third year.
Against demand loans, banks will have to provide the same rebate on the interests to be accrued from the credit on the third year.  In case of term loans, banks will have to provide a 10 percent rebate on the interests to be realised on the third year. 
All borrowers will continue to enjoy the waiver every year afterwards. Besides, banks can extend additional credit on demand. 
The central bank has made it mandatory for banks to provide the incentives to all its clients, a move which was well received by bankers. 
“It's a good policy. It will motivate borrowers to remain regular on their instalments,” said Anis A Khan, managing director of Mutual Trust Bank. “Although the profits of banks will reduce to some extent because of the policy, we will still welcome it,” Khan told The Daily Star, adding that the policy might help bring a positive change in reversing the growing trend of wilful default culture.  
Now banks will have to make their customers aware about the incentives for being a good borrower, he added.