National Bank Limited organised an orientation programme for its newly-recruited probationary officers at the bank’s training institute in Dhaka recently.

A K M Shafiqur Rahman, Managing Director and CEO of the bank attended the programme as chief guest, said a press release.

With conferring Bangladesh Bank Award 2013, the central bank at a programme today (Wednesday) is paying its highest tribute to two eminent economists for their lifetime and distinct contribution to the economy and the development of the country.

The central bank is arranging the august event at its training centre at Mirpur in the city to confer its top award on Professor Dr Muzaffer Ahmad and Dr Swadesh Ranjan Bose (posthumous).

“The award has been conferred on Professor Dr Muzaffer Ahmad and on Dr Swadesh Ranjan Bose for their distinctive contribution to the development economy,” a BB statement said on Tuesday.

Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith will be present at the award giving ceremony as the chief guest. Chairman of Palli Karam Shahayak Foundation (PKSF) Dr Qazi Koliquzzaman Ahmed, Director General of Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) Dr Toufic Ahmed Chowdhury, Director General of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) Dr Mustafa Kamal Mujeri and family members of the two late economists will speak on the occasion. BB Governor Dr Atiur Rahman will chair the event. A gold medal, Taka one lakh in cash and a BB crest will be handed over to each of the heir of the awarded economists.

A five-member jury board of prominent economists of the country led by the BB governor jointly nominated these two prominent economists for the Award.

Professor Dr Muzaffer Ahmad was an economist best known for his diverse researches on industry, education, international economics, public enterprises, human rights, health economics, labour relations, good governance, rural development and poverty reduction and environmental issues. He was also awarded the Ekushey Padak in 2008. Dr Ahmed died in 2012. —BSS

 The Half-Yearly Relationship Managers’ Conference of Exim Bank Limited was held at Gulshan in Dhaka on Monday.

Chairman of the bank Md. Nazrul Islam Mazumder was present at the conference as chief guest while Managing Director of the bank Dr. Mohammed Haider Ali Miah presided over the conference.

Vice Chairman of the bank Md. Abdul Mannan MP, Directors Md. Habib Ullah Dawn, Mohammed Shahidullah, Md. Nurul Amin, Major (Retd) Khandaker Nurul Afser, Lt Col (Retd) Serajul Islam, Abdullah Al-Zahir Shapan, Adviser Md. Fariduddin Ahmed and Deputy Managing Directors were also present.

Md. Nazrul Islam Mazumder, Chairman of the Bank says in his speech, Exim Bank is contributing both in the country and its economy. Exim Bank secured its position among the top banks by its transparency, accountability, development and corporate social responsibility.

 United Commercial Bank Limited (UCBL) organised training course on ‘Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism’ at the bank’s corporate head office in Dhaka on Monday.

Mirza Mahmud Rafiqur Rahman, Additional Managing Director of UCBL, attended the function, said a press release.

Abu Sadeque Miah, Executive Vice President and Head of Operations and Development, Chowdhury Mohidul Hoque, Head of ICCD of the bank along with different participants from various branches were present at the training.

Fifty participants attended the training course.

The objective of the training programme was to build the capacity of the participants to deal with any level of suspicious transactions or anything having doubtful nature to comply with Bangladesh Bank’s anti-money laundering guidelines and terror financing to minimise bank risks.

Credit roll-out by local private banks has increased substantially in recent times on the back of a pick-up in business activities thanks to political calm.

Credit growth of the private banks, whose share in the total credit disbursed comes to 69.35 percent, stood at 15.56 percent on June 30, compared to a year earlier.

The state-owned and foreign banks that account for 23.82 percent of total loans have seen negative credit growth in the year to June 30, according to data from the central bank.

Credit disbursement by the state-owned commercial banks declined 4.17 percent and foreign banks 1.67 percent, while the five state-owned specialised banks registered 13.12 percent growth on June 30 from a year ago.

At the end of June, total credit stood at Tk 491,210 crore, with almost half of it being industrial credit that comprises working capital and term-loans.

Working capital in both private and foreign banks rose significantly, statistics from Bangladesh Bank show.

In fiscal 2013-14, working capital disbursement by private banks rose around 20 percent year-on-year and that of foreign banks 95 percent. But state-owned commercial banks' working capital disbursement fell 56 percent.

Term loan disbursement by private commercial banks rose 30 percent, while that of state-owned commercial banks and foreign banks 56 percent and 26 percent respectively.

Khondker Ibrahim Khaled, a former deputy governor of the central bank, said the private banks' credit growth is nothing out-of-the-ordinary as the political situation has calmed down. “In fact, a vacuum does not exist for long.”

New investment though is slightly low for non-availability of gas and electricity connections to new industries, he said. 

The new factories are being run with fuel-based generators, which increase operational costs. If two factories from the same industry are run with two different sources of energy, they cannot compete with one other, according to Khaled. “As a result, the new industries are hesitant to come to the market.”

He also said the fall in credit disbursement by state banks is due to their shyness to distribute loan owing to earlier scams.

Zaid Bakht, a director of Sonali Bank, echoed the same, adding that state-banks' vigilance is high mainly after the Hall-Mark scam.

He said the reason for the private banks' increase in credit disbursement is that they mainly provide import financing and working capital and imports increased recently and so did businesses' demand for working capital following the diffusion of political tension.

Bakht, also the research director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, expects credit roll-out to increase much next year, when the Padma bridge project is in full swing.

Meanwhile, a branch manager of the state-owned Agrani Bank told The Daily Star that while they hesitate to extend a Tk 100 crore loan even after adequate collateral, the private banks give out Tk 200 crore loans against the same collateral.

“Banking by private banks is much more aggressive than the state banks,” he added.

A branch manager of UCBL Bank, a private bank, said they are given a specific target every year and if they fail to meet that the bank cannot do business. “We still scrutinise all paperwork before disbursing loans.”