DHAKA: The 99th Branch of Bank Asia started operation in the Rangpur town from Sunday (18 Jan, 2015) , reports in a press release. Rangpur City Mayor Sharfuddin Ahmed Jhantu formally inaugurated the new branch at Station Road in the town. Mosaddek Hossain Bablu, Former president of Rangpur Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Md. Mojaffor Hossain, Executive Vice President & Head of Bogra Branch, Bank Asia were, among other, present. Members of the business community, local elite and a large number of people also attended the auspicious event. The new branch has all the modern banking facilities including on-line banking and ATM.
Starting its operation in 1999, Bank Asia is one of the most innovative banks in the country’s banking sector. It offers a wide range of financial services that covers the entire spectrum of banking operations including Islamic Banking,
SME financing, e-banking, ATM, etc under its online platform to deliver the highest standard of services to its clientele, ably supported by the use of state-of-the-art technology.

Switzerland would have had to spend more than $100 billion this month alone if it had continued efforts to hold down the value of its currency, a senior central bank official said Thursday.

In a shock move a week ago, the Swiss National Bank scrapped a three-year-effort to keep down the value of the franc, sending the Swiss currency soaring by as much as 30 percent.The soaring franc wreaked havoc on global markets and bankrupted several foreign exchange traders.

But the central bank has ardently defended the move, insisting its efforts to enforce the ceiling, including purchasing massive amounts of foreign currency, were no longer sustainable.

"In the days running up to the decision to abolish the ceiling the sum ploughed in was increasing," Fritz Zurbruegg, a member of the Swiss National Bank's governing board, told the Blick daily.

If the bank had continued its efforts, "we would have spent about 100 billion francs (100 billion euros, $116 billion) for January alone," said Zurbruegg, the number three in the bank. "We came to the conclusion that the best option was to free up the exchange rate," he added. The decision was taken by the bank's top triumvirate: chief Thomas Jordan, vice-president Jean-Pierre Danthine and Zurbruegg.

The SNB had been defending the exchange rate since September 2011 in an effort to protect the country's vital export and tourism industries. The franc has stabilised around parity with the euro, a strengthening of some 17 percent from the previous limit of 1.20 francs to the euro.

The rate was introduced as the eurozone crisis sent investors scurrying to the safe haven currency. More recently, the Russian ruble crisis put renewed pressure on the franc.

The bank's decision to allow the franc to float has generated widespread criticism, but Zurbruegg insisted that the bank's "credibility" was intact. "We have had no sign of a deflationary spiral," he said.

Swiss businesses, which have seen their shares take a bashing since the decision, are not convinced.

The banking lobby has for instance warned that the strong franc could pose a problem for private banks which earn up to 80 percent of their revenue in foreign currencies with higher cost-income ratios.

Switzerland's iconic watch industry, which exports nearly 95 percent of its top-end products to markets where revenues are earned in dollars and euros, has also said the move will take a harsh toll on sales and margins.

Of the amount, the customer will pay Tk15 when the card issuing bank will pay the rest Tk5

Banks have been asked to develop their own outsourcing policy to mitigate risks and monitor their compliance with regulatory requirements.

Bangladesh Bank spelled out a guideline in this regard through a circular issued yesterday.

Banks can initiate their engagement with outsourcing service providers only after being able to fully comply with the instructions of the circular.

Moreover, all existing engagements must be made compliant, including taking the central bank approval where necessary within 2015.

Banking institutions throughout the world are increasingly using “outsourcing” as a means of both reducing costs and achieving strategic aims, said the circular.

When these third-party service providers play their significant parts for the bank’s regulated and unregulated activities, their roles may impact on the banks’ risk management ability.

Banks can mitigate these risks by taking steps to draw up comprehensive and clear outsourcing policies, analyze financial and infrastructure resources of service providers, negotiate appropriate outsourcing contracts, make contingency plan for outsourcing firms and establish effective risk management programmes, added the circular.

According to the guideline, a bank seeking to outsource activities will develop a comprehensive policy approved by its board of directors.

The policy should include the identification of relevant activities that are appropriate for outsourcing, criteria for selecting suitable service providers, risk mitigation measures and governance structure clearly defining roles and responsibilities of the board of directors.

The circular defines that outsourcing refers to any activity of a bank company carried out by another party (Service Provider) from inside or outside the bank premises, or from within Bangladesh or abroad.

Generally, banks should only outsource those activities which can be effectively supervised by them, and compliance with the BB requirements for receiving outsourcing should be ensured.

Banks shall not outsource its core management functions, any of its risk management functions or core banking operations.

The guideline restricts sub-contracting by the service provider for material outsourcing both for home and abroad. Material outsourcing arrangements are those which, if disrupted, have the potential to significantly impact the business operations, reputation or profitability.

Banks should ensure that all information prohibited from sharing by laws or regulations are not disclosed to service providers.

When engaging with service providers of a foreign country, banks should take into account and closely monitor their government policies, plus political, social, economic and legal conditions of those countries.

Any outsourcing from outside Bangladesh will require prior approval of Bangladesh Bank. 

Md Arifur Rahman, Md Jalal Uddin and Gandhi Kumar Roy have recently joined Bangladesh Krishi Bank as deputy managing directors, the bank said in a statement yesterday.
Before joining Krishi Bank, Rahman was the general manager of Rupali Bank, and Roy was the general manager of Karmasangstan Bank, while Jalal Uddin was promoted to DMD from the post of general manager, according to the statement.