The central bank will stop old and new notes exchange service from its counters from the next month.

Instead, the 8,000 branches of 47 scheduled banks in the country will provide with this service starting from May 2.

At the same time, the central bank has also closed down the services of exchanging torn notes, change of money and all other scheduled banking activities from its outlets.

A BB handout made the announcement on Tuesday, pointing out that it has taken the decision considering the security and needs of general people.

However, the central bank will strictly monitor the issue of supplying and exchanging notes and metallic coins by all branches of the commercial banks, the handout pointed out.

The decision will create more opportunities for the people in getting the services without coming up to Bangladesh Bank and reaching the banking services to the doorstep of people.

The handout said ensuring the security of BB is very important as it is one of the class one organisation under Key Point Installation (KPI).

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 12th April 2012

Coming up with a detailed explanation of allowing new banks, Bangladesh Bank (BB) yesterday said entry of the new banks would heighten the quality of financial services by increasing competition in the banking sector.

Explaining the economic context and rationale behind issuing new bank licences, the central bank said the economy has grown and the banking system has become more competitive when there are a large number of under-banked people in Bangladesh.

The BB said while the economy has grown and the banking system has become more competitive, 45 per cent of the population still remain unbanked.

The population per branch (21,065) and the ratio of loan accounts per 1,000 adults (42) suggests that the outreach of the formal financial sector is lower than in India (14,485 and 124 respectively) and Pakistan (20,340 population per branch and 47 loan accounts per 1,000).

It said the capital infusion by these new banks would augment the banking system’s capacity to meet the credit needs of the expanding corporate sector. Currently, because of limitations on large exposures, large corporations must approach many banks simultaneously with their credit needs, which then have to be stitched together in syndicate or participation loans.

“The entrance of the new banks will add to the aggregate capital base of these existing syndications, allowing for larger loans to be granted for productive investment and job-creation,” the central bank said.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 10th April 2012

The introduction of e-tender at Bangladesh Bank enables bidders to take part in the bidding freely in a process that eliminated domination of muscle power and shortened the procurement cycle.

Since its introduction in May 2010, the banking regulator gave 350 contracts out of 400 to winning bidders for procurement of goods through e-tender, a central bank official said.

"With this online system, the entire tender process for procurement of goods and services starting from creation of a purchase requisition through to the award of contract is being done in a transparent and fair manner," said Nazneen Sultana, deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank.

She said e-tender minimises the use of paper, hassles in communication and administration and labour-intensive tasks of receipt, recording and distribution.

In fact, the e-tender tool transforms a rigid, process-driven environment into a flexible, result-driven landscape, Sultana said.

Some 100 tenders are waiting for evaluation and contracts are expected to be awarded soon, said Mohammed Ishaque Miah, senior systems analyst.

The BB developed the electronic tender system software with own expertise and resources for tender call, collection and evaluation to quicken its procurement process.

Now, the software became a model in the country's bidding process that often triggered unbridled corruption and snatching of tender box in the manual system, he added.

Ishaque said the Bridge Division, Rupali Bank, Security Printing Press and some other organisations will introduce e-bidding with the software.

The user-friendly software has been developed considering the country's socio-economic and literacy condition, said Kazi Nasir Ahmed, another IT expert of BB.

Users will have to sign up for the e-tender system with valid email addresses. A user can log into the system with an ID and password. Unregistered users who want to participate in the bidding have to click the link 'Register Now' of the tender site.

The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 10th April 2012

Bangladesh Bank (BB) on Sunday signed two separate agreements with International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC), members of Islamic Development Bank Group, regarding USD 1.7 billion loans for imports of petroleum products by Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC).

One agreement styled “Framework Mudaraba Agreement for USD 1 Billion” while, the other titled “Syndicated Mudaraba Agreement”, according to a BB press release.

BB governor Dr Atiur Rahman and ITFC chief executive officer Dr. Waleed Al-Wohaid have inked the agreements on respective their parts at the central bank headquarters in Dhaka.

The BB annually receives US $ 1 billion in loans from ITFC each year for petroleum import by BPC. This year, the ITFC members will provide another US $ 1 billion in loans under syndicated financing by IDB Group members. Of the latter US $ 1 billion, the central bank’s contribution is $ 300 million, according to the press statement.

Twenty-seven foreign financial institutions would take part in the syndication.

The Independent/Bangladesh/ 9th April 2012

Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman yesterday stressed the need for developing insurance products, particularly health insurance and crop insurance, for the poor and urged all concerned to work together so that poor households can insure themselves against health shocks and crop losses.

“The biggest gap in microfinance is in developing insurance products for the poor, particularly health insurance and crop insurance,” he said while addressing a seminar on ‘Towards a Public Policy on Microfinance in Bangladesh.’

“Let us work together- microfinance regulators, program managers, development partners and the private sector so that poor households can insure themselves against the most common type of shocks - health shocks and crop losses - which often cruelly reverses the steady gains that our hard-working country men and women achieve,” the governor added.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 6th April 2012