Md Rezaul Haque has recently been re-elected as the chairman of Social Islami Bank for the fourth term, the bank said in a statement yesterday.
Haque is a freedom fighter and also served the medical corps of Bangla-desh Army, according to the statement.
He is also a sponsor director of United Hospital and director of SIBL Securities Ltd, chairman of Little House (Pvt), Active Builders, Probashi Forum Co-operative Ltd and SIBL Investment Ltd.

Foreign nationals and companies operating in Bangladesh will come under the scanner of Bangladesh Bank as amendment is being brought to foreign exchange regulation act to check money laundering activities.

The cabinet yesterday approved the draft of the "Foreign Exchange Regulation (amendment) Bill, 2015" incorporating some new provisions.

According to the draft amendment, the central bank can seek information on the assets of these foreign nationals and companies -- be the assets in Bangladesh or abroad.

However, a finance ministry official said the central bank will go for the measure only if suspicion arises against any individual or company.

Once the Act is passed in parliament, everything will be clarified, he said.

The central bank will also be able to seek information on immovable or any assets owned by the Bangladeshis abroad.

As per the existing law, the central bank can only ask for information from Bangladeshi citizens about their holdings of foreign currency and foreign securities.

After the cabinet meeting yesterday, Cabinet Secretary Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan told reporters that the provision did not have any ambiguity regarding its application in case of Bangladeshi citizens.

However, earlier it was not clear whether the provision was applicable to the foreign nationals living in Bangladesh, he said.

Bhuiyan said, “The amended Act made it clear that it will be applicable to both Bangladeshi and foreign nationals.”

The move to update the seven-decade-old law comes after the International Monetary Fund tagged it as a condition for the Extended Credit Facility (ECF) loan to improve the trade and investment climate.

Meanwhile, the proposed amendment also contains other modifications to the existing law with a view to making foreign trade and investment easier.

Suggestions have been placed to make it easier to set up branches, representative and liaison offices of foreign companies.

At present, permissions are required from both the Board of Investment and BB to establish such offices.

As per the amendment, permission from the BoI will suffice but the central bank has to be informed about it.

The cabinet secretary said the amendment updated the definitions of some terms, including currency, securities, exchange, account transactions services, capital account transactions, and goods.

In the amended act, the central bank has been given the power to impose administrative fines. However, the amount of fine or punishment will be decided later through rules in the light of the Act, Bhuiyan said.

Bangladesh's existing foreign exchange regulation act is almost a copycat version of the laws passed in undivided India in 1947.

In 1976 and 2003, some minor amendments to the act were introduced. Besides, the current account transaction convertibility was made in 1994, and the exchange rate was made market-based in 2003.

In case of foreign trade, the services sector's share has increased, but the existing law does not have much about it.

A number of amendments have been proposed in the act to make foreign currency earning easier through the services sector.

Sreenogor : Vice Chairman of Trust Bank Limited & Adjutant General of Bangladesh Army Maj Gen Ashraf Abdullah Yussuf   formally inaugurated Trust Bank Limited Sreenogor, Munshigonj Branch recently, reports in a press release.
In this grand opening occasion, Banks Managing Director & CEO of the Bank Ishtiaque Ahmed Chowdhury were also present this ceremony with Banks Director and distinguished guests.
On the other hands, DMD, cluster head, Senior Officials of the Bank Management, and local administrative government people, businessman & other invited guest also attended the inaugural ceremony. We aim to provide financial services to meet customer expectations so that customers feel we are always there when they need us, and can refer us to their friends with confidence. We want to be a preferred bank of choice with a distinctive identity.
Trust Bank mission is to make banking easy for our customers by implementing one-stop service concept and provide innovative and attractive products & services through our technology and qualified human resources. We always look out to benefit the local community through supporting entrepreneurship, social responsibility and economic development of the country.
Trust Bank is a contemporary, upbeat brand of distinctive quality of service and solution that offers a rewarding banking experience as preferred choice of banking partner every time, every where.

Banks regularised Tk 18,552 crore until June under relaxed loan rescheduling rules that were introduced in December last year to help businesses affected by political unrest.

Eight state-owned and specialised banks accounted for almost half of the amount or Tk 9,174 crore, according to central bank statistics.

Although the banks took advantage of the relaxed rules, their classified loans rose during the period.

Under the scope that expired in June, businesses were allowed to reschedule their loans by fixing their down payment and time limit for repayment, and restructure loans by setting up a rational repayment period.

Banks had to obtain a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the central bank before the rescheduling facility became effective.

However, many of the loan rescheduling proposals were rejected, a central bank official said.

For example, he said, Janata Bank had sent proposals to reschedule loans worth Tk 4,487 crore under the relaxed policy, but could finally regularise Tk 2,057 crore during the period.

The official said the central bank gave the NOCs after scrutinising the proposals carefully. The BB also opened a cell at its headquarters to monitor the loans.

Central bank inspection teams, during their regular visits to different banks, took with them a list of the loans rescheduled by the banks under the special facility and checked their status. Among the state banks, Rupali rescheduled the highest amount of loans worth Tk 3,137 crore, followed by Agrani Bank's Tk 2,062 crore, according to the BB.

Of the other state and specialised banks, Sonali rescheduled loans worth Tk 756 crore, while Bangladesh Development Bank regularised Tk 305 crore, Bangladesh Krishi Bank Tk 545 crore, Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank Tk 253 crore and BASIC Bank Tk 59 crore.

However, banks' classified loans increased by 1.82 percentage points to 10.75 percent of their outstanding loans on June 30. On December 31, the amount of their total default loans was 8.93 percent of the outstanding loans.

The state banks' default loans were 23.23 percent on June 30, up from 19.76 percent on December 31.

The central bank had offered the relaxed rescheduling facility in the first week of December last year and banks made the best use of the scope in that month.

As a result, the classified loan situation of the banks improved much in December last year compared to September the same year.

Non-performing loans in banks fell 28.45 percent during the period last year, according to a central bank study.

Banks' provision against bad loans also came down by 21 percent during the period, while provision shortfall slid around 92 percent.

DHL Express, the world's leading express company, reached an agreement with Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited (SHIBL) to provide international express delivery to the bank and its customers. 

An official corporate deal in this connection was signed between DHL Express Bangladesh and Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited at the head office of SHIBL. 

The agreement was signed by Desmond Quiah, Country Manager, DHL Express Bangladesh and Farman R. Chowdhury, Managing Director, SHIBL on behalf of their respective organisations, said a press release.