The Bangladesh Bank (BB) earned net profit worth Tk 34.8 billion in the immediate-past financial year (FY), according to the financial reports.

The growth in the operating profit was 122 percent over the previous FY, which was Tk 16.64 billion.

The board of directors of the central bank has approved the financial report in its Wednesday’s meeting.

The profit amount includes operating profit on providing services for monetary transfer and services and foreign currency revaluation profit.

According to the BB’s financial report, its total expenditure in the FY12 posted a 15.74 percent growth that stood to Tk 16.46 billion.

News: Daily Sun/Bangladesh/30-Aug-12

Abrar A Anwar, managing director and head of origination and client coverage of Standard Chartered Bangladesh, poses with the FinanceAsia Country Award 2012 for the best foreign bank in Bangladesh at Four Seasons Hotel in Macau recently.

Standard Chartered Bank has recently been named the “Best Foreign Commercial Bank in Bangladesh 2012” by FianaceAsia, a financial publication in the region.

The Bank received the award as part of FinanceAsia 2012 Country Awards for Achievement, the Bank said in a statement yesterday.

The award was handed over to Abrar A Anwar, managing director and head of origination and client coverage of Standard Chartered Bangladesh, at a grand gala dinner programme at Four Seasons Hotel in Macau on August 24.

“We are delighted to receive this award for the fourth consecutive year, which is a testimony of our commitment to serve our clients in this market consistently over so many years and we are proud to be able to make positive contributions in Bangladesh," said Anwar.

"We are thankful to all our clients and colleagues of the Bank for their support in getting this prestigious award once again.”

"We are excited with this win, and we're excited by the future for Standard Chartered Bank in Bangladesh," said Jim McCabe, chief executive officer of Standard Chartered Bangladesh.

"A presence in Bangladesh that spans over a century means that we are part of the country's heritage."

Starting from opening the first letter of credit in sovereign Bangladesh immediately after independence, Standard Chartered has been a partner in progress for the nation, McCabe said.

"The award highlights our success story and is a testament to our strong performance in the country and continued commitment to this market. The award reiterates that we are 'Here for good' in Bangladesh."

Standard Chartered Bank has 28 branches and booths, 90 ATMs and 16 financial kiosks, employing over 1,600 people in Bangladesh, he said.

"We are the only foreign bank in the country with presence in six cities: Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Sylhet, Bogra and Narayanganj."

Besides winning the same award in 2009, 2010 and in 2011, Standard Chartered Bangladesh also received the “Best Retail Bank in Bangladesh” award in 2011 from The Asian Banker and “Best Bank in Bangladesh” at the Banker Awards 2010.

FinanceAsia Country Awards for achievement celebrates excellence among the region's financial services firms. The winners of the country awards were chosen from the fields of local and international banking, investment banking, and broking.

Based in Hong Kong and established in 1996, FinanceAsia is a financial journal in Asia and the Pacific with additional bureaus in Singapore and Sydney.

News: Daily Star/Bangladesh/30-Aug-12

The government should immediately void the amendment made to the Grameen Bank Ordinance as the changes are out of touch with reality, a group of professionals said yesterday.

In a joint statement, 160 people from different professions yesterday expressed grave concern over the future of Grameen Bank.

They said the government move to gain control of the Noble-winning organisation by way of the amendment has not only surprised the country's conscientious citizens but also people the world over.

“We think it has tarnished Bangladesh's image on the international level.”

People from all walks of life, including intellectuals, eminent citizens, politicians, teachers, women leaders, have criticised the government move, according to the statement.

"It proves the government move is far removed from people's perceptions. The government should annul the amendment without further ado," it said.

The group highlighted the fact that 84 lakh poor women had 97 percent ownership of the microcredit organisation, while the government had only a 3 percent stake.

"Given these conditions, amending the Grameen Bank Ordinance to give sole power to the government-appointed chairman to pick the managing director of the bank seems ill-intended.”

“The participation of the rural women in running the bank was not given any importance -- they have been made peripheral to the organisation by the amendment," it said.

Favouritism is bound to creep into the selection of managing director, just like it has happened in the case of state-run banks, the statement reads.

“It has not yielded good fruits [in case of state-run banks] -- and the results are not satisfactory.”

The statement said the procedure through which the managing director was selected and the board was run in the last 30 years is what has made Grameen Bank a Nobel Peace prize-winning organisation.

"Then what is the point of this amendment?" it asked.

"Why do the organisation's 97 percent stakeholders not have the liberty to choose their chief executive? The amended ordinance is totally conflicting with other existing laws of the country, as well as around the world, and hence, is questionable."

The group of professionals said a top audit firm, appointed by the central bank, properly inspected the accounts of Grameen Bank every year, in line with the country's audit standards.

Bangladesh Bank, too, conducted the audit, from branches to head offices, every year with its skilled officials.

“Those audit reports are testament to the transparency of Grameen Bank's accounts and its financial management,” it said.

The signatories in-clude AFM Yusuf Haider, a former vice chancellor of Dhaka University; Rumana Parvin, assistant professor of Dhaka University; Imdadul Haque FCA; Advocate Afajalul Haque; Prof Yakub Ali and Engineer Nurul Haque.

News: Daily Star/Bangladesh/30-Aug-12

The board of directors of Sonali Bank yesterday claimed they were not guilty of a recent loan scam involving more than Tk 3,606 crore.

The board also passed the responsibility of the scam on to the officers and "their collaborators".

“The board is very much active, competent and judicious,” KM Zaman Romel, a director of the Bank, told journalists after a meeting at the Bank's headquarters in Dhaka.

Though Romel is the chairman of the Bank's audit committee, he denied his failure to carry out the audit work of the Bank properly.

“The then managing director (Humayun Kabir) of the Bank did not inform the board of the financial frauds at the Bank's Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch,” said a statement issued by the Bank.

“If the board was informed on time, the fraud could be averted,” said the statement.

On the suspension of 32 officers identified in the fraud, Pradip Kumar Dutta, managing director of the Bank, said, “It's a process and we've started it.”

“We'll inform the central bank of it tomorrow (today),” said Dutta.

In May 2012, a central bank investigation revealed massive irregularities in sanctioning and disbursing loans worth Tk 3,547, mostly to little-known Hallmark Group, by the Sonali Bank's Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch.

The Bangladesh Bank also instructed the bank to take necessary action.

An audit conducted in June found that the top management of the Bank had remained “mysteriously silent for a year” since February 2011, although the signs of irregularities came to light through various internal inspections.

Some central bank officials said the Sonali Bank management was asked on several occasions to take drastic action against the officials involved in the scam -- but the instructions fell on deaf ears.

BB Governor Atiur Rahman in a letter on Monday requested Finance Minister AMA Muhith to restructure the board of directors of the state-owned bank, saying it failed totally to deal with the Tk 3,547 crore loan scam.

Of the amount, Hallmark Group alone pocketed Tk 2,686.14 crore.

However, a day after the governor's letter, the finance minister questioned the central bank's jurisdiction of dissolving the Sonali Bank's board to be expired next month after a three-year full term.

Meanwhile, the BB in its board meeting yesterday discussed the Sonali Bank's irregularities and the matters of the governor's letter.

“Bangladesh Bank explained the entire issue before the board,” Prof Hannana Begum, a BB director, told the journalists after the meeting.

“We've asked the central bank to devise a permanent mechanism and monitoring system so that the Sonali Bank-type irregularities can be avoided,” she said.

News: Daily Star/Bangladesh/30-Aug-12

Bangladesh Bank's net profits, buoyed by increased government borrowing and repo operations, shot up 105 percent to Tk 3,858 crore in fiscal 2011-12.

The financial results were disclosed after a board meeting that approved the annual accounts for the fiscal year, AFM Asaduzzaman, general manager of Bangladesh Bank (BB), said yesterday.

The amount payable to government coffers stood at Tk 3,481 crore, up 109 percent from the previous year's Tk 1,664 crore.

Operating profits, at Tk 7,031.74 crore, were 20.48 percent lower than last fiscal year's Tk 8,842.59 crore.

“Operating profits have gone down due to a significant loss in foreign currency revaluation,” a senior BB official told The Daily Star.

Income from foreign currency revaluation in fiscal 2011-12 was Tk 3,173 crore in fiscal 2011-12, when it stood at Tk 6,957 crore in the previous year.

Income from domestic sources jumped to 1,983 crore from Tk 441 crore a year ago. The growth rate was over 122 percent, thanks to higher government borrowings.

The central bank earned Tk 1,206 crore by lending to the government, up by nearly 148 percent from previous year's Tk 299 crore.

Income from foreign sources rose by over 13 percent from Tk 964 crore to Tk 1,091 crore, mainly due to higher interest rate.

The interest income from investment in local banks and the government is referred to as a domestic source, while the interest earned from investments of foreign currency reserves in commercial and central banks abroad is termed as earnings from foreign sources.

News: Daily Star/Bangladesh/30-Aug-12