Bangladesh Bank (BB) has instructed all state-owned commercial banks (SCB) to give interest-free loan to the marginal farmers and poor women of Aila-Sidr and monga affected region under their Social Corporate Responsibility (CSR).

The central bank dispatched the order following the successful implementation of a credit programme by Janata Bank in those regions, sources said. During a recent meeting with SCBs and specialised banks, the central bank asked all SCBs to follow the model of Janata Bank in this regard.

“Marginal farmers of the Aila and Sidr are leaving farming as they are failing to maintain this profession through borrowing from rural lenders at high interest rate. Janata Bank has set a rare example by giving these farmers interest free loan under its CSR programme,” said BB’s Executive Director SM Moniruzzaman.

“As BB wants to effectively implement the programme of Janata Bank, we have asked all SCBs to implement this programme in a limited scale,” he said, adding, “If all the SCBs come forward, this interest free loan programme would help these poor farmers stay in their areas and involve in farming.”

Janata Bank launched interest free loan scheme under its CSR programme in the financial year 2009-10 and it disbursed Tk 3.0 crore among 3,120 marginal farmers in the financial year 2011-12.

Janata Bank has targeted to disburse Tk 5.0 crore in the current fiscal year (2012-2013). Talking to BSS, Md Zikrul Haq, Deputy General Manager of the Department concerned of Janata Bank, said the bank initially constituted a revolving fund to give farmers interest free loan.

News: The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/16th-Dec-12

KS Tabrez, Managing Director of DBBL, speaks at a foundation training course at bank’s training institute in Dhaka recently.

A 4-week long 36th foundation training course organised by Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited ended in Dhaka recently.

In this connection, a certificate awarding ceremony was held at DBBL Training Center in Dhaka recently, said a press release.

KS Tabrez, Managing Director of DBBL distributed certificates among the participants.

Abul Kashem Md. Shirin, Deputy Managing Director of the bank and Head of Training Wing also present on the occasion.

Tabrez, in his speech said the training programme will enable the participants discharge their professional duties properly.

He also underscored the need for organizing such trainings to develop professionalism, adding that training has no substitute to enhance skills and knowledge.

Dutch-Bangla Bank always gives special emphasis on development of human resources through continuous training programme, he added.

News: The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/16th-Dec-12

Standard Chartered Bank yesterday awarded scholarships to 100 poor intellectually-disabled students of five schools in Dhaka as part of its corporate social responsibility.

Each student received Tk 3,000 to Tk 5,000 in one-off funds to pay tuition fees for school for a year.

AB Mirza Azizul Islam, former finance adviser to the caretaker government, handed the scholarships at a programme organised by the Bankers' Forum, a welfare organisation, at the Cirdap auditorium in the capital.

He urged all corporate bodies to help the helpless and underprivileged disabled students for the benefit of the country.

“Disabled students are the integral part of the society. We should help them. I wish them great success."

Standard Chartered is giving education scholarships and medical facilities to the poor as part of its efforts to develop the country, said Bitopi Das Chowdhury, head of corporate affairs of the bank.

The other corporate institutions should come up with the same initiative like StanChart to help such students, she said.

“We are working to facilitate the poor and intellectually-disabled students,” said MA Khaleque, president of Bankers' Forum. “We have given donation to all schools of the disabled students in Dhaka,” he said.

“We need to nurture

the poor and the meritorious disabled students, because today's students will be the valuable asset for the country."

News: The Daily Star/Bangladesh/16th-Dec-12

Dhaka stocks gained in the last week riding on the most-weighted banking sector despite political instability in the country.

DGEN, the benchmark general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, finished the week at 4,088.62 points, after raising 22.37 points or 0.55 percent.

The market witnessed five trading sessions as usual. Three of the five sessions of the week witnessed low participation due to countrywide road blockade and hartal.

Among those, first two sessions lost 57.41 points while the last three gained 79.78 points.

The banking sector, which accounted for more than a third of market capitalisation, dominated the week's top gainers and turnover chart with eight banks featuring in the top ten gainers' list.

Prime Bank which accelerated 14.95 percent topped the gainers' list, ultimately pulling up the market index.

“The market was fostered largely by the upward trend of the large-cap banking sector,” LankaBangla Securities said in its weekly market commentary.

“During the last week, the sector gained around 5.42 percent of market cap with a significant rise in turnover.”

All other major sectors posted losses. The fuel and power sector lost 1.63 percent, telecoms 1.06 percent, pharma 0.64 percent and non-bank financial institutions 0.35 percent.

Due to the banking sector's weight in the overall market cap, it alone led the market index upward, it said.

Daily average turnover declined 16.59 percent to Tk 192 crore, compared to the previous week.

Of the 282 issues that traded on the DSE, 84 advanced, 84 declined and 14 remained unchanged.

Envoy Textiles featured in the most traded stocks' chart with 1.8 crore shares worth Tk 104 crore changing hands.

Generation Next Fashions and United Airways were the next popular stocks of the week. Jamuna Oil was the worst loser, slumping 29.49 percent.

News: The Daily Star/Bangladesh/16th-Dec-12

The central bank will launch an online trading platform for government treasury bonds and bills tomorrow, opening up an easy market for both institutional and individual investors.

The launch of the platform -- Trader Work Station -- will meet a long-pending demand, as the existing secondary bond market in the stock exchanges is still inactive, especially for government treasury bonds and bills. A bond is a debt instrument.

Bangladesh Bank issued a guideline last week for the sales of Bangladesh Government Treasury Bond (BGTB) and bills in the secondary market.

BB Governor Atiur Rahman will inaugurate the platform, a central bank official said yesterday.

Anis A Khan, managing director of Mutual Trust Bank, said Bangladesh lags far behind the advanced and regional countries where the secondary bond market is vibrant.

“However, we appreciate the introduction of the platform,” he said.

The secondary bond market may not be lucrative for investors right now due to the present economic condition of the country. “But it will be lucrative in the long run."

Online trading will expand the bond market at the secondary level, bring innovations in market-based rate and smooth participation of investors -- both individual and institutional, according to the BB guideline .

The guideline said individual or institutional investors can participate in trading in the platform through primary dealer or scheduled banks and financial institutions having current accounts with the BB.

The market value of all treasury bills and bonds, yield, amount, date of issuance and date of expiry will be shown on the ticker screen of the website.

Any buyer or seller can place orders on the platform through his bank for buying or selling all government treasury bills on the price or yield shown on the ticker screen, the guideline said.

It said T+0 trading system will be followed in settlement of purchase and sale of BGTB or treasury bills through the platform. The T+0 means, the trading will be settled on the same day.

The ticker screen will show the total sales of securities, highest and lowest market rates, yield and the total value of securities purchased and sold in a day.

If necessary, the central bank will impose circuit breaker to prevent any abnormal fall or rise in the market price. The market watch screen of the platform has the option of monitoring market-related information and data.

Detailed information of all orders, sale and purchase of securities can be seen on the market watch screen.

The members can get detailed information of each of their orders from the order book of the platform and, if necessary, cancel or change their orders, according to the guideline.

News: The Daily Star/Bangladesh/16th-Dec-12