Humaira Azam has been appointed deputy managing director of Bank Asia, the Bank said in a statement yesterday.

Prior to joining the Bank, Humaira was managing director and chief executive officer of IPDC of Bangladesh. She has a career of 22 years in the banking and financial sector.

Humaira completed her master's in social science and started her career as a management trainee at ANZ Grindlays Bank. She also worked for HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank in Dhaka in different significant capacities, according to the statement.

The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 31th Jan 2012

Budding bankers expecting the bumper bonuses of years gone by will have to think again, with only the top performers likely to be paid top dollar.

Business leaders and bankers at the annual Davos forum were largely dismissive of attempts to cap or restrict compensation in the financial services industry through regulation. But they said a combination of public anger, tighter scrutiny from watchdogs, tougher performance measures and a structural fall in profitability in banking in the post-crisis world would curb the excesses of the past.

"Compared to four years ago its night and day, partially because the regulators are insisting on it...and partly because the supervisory board of banks have said we have got to balance the reward of our senior team with the reward of our long-term shareholders. And part of it is the business model has changed," a senior investment banker at a major Wall Street firm said.

Part nationalized Royal Bank of Scotland, for example, said on Saturday that Chairman Philip Hampton would not pick up a share-based bonus, amid a backdrop of public anger over a 1 million ($1.6 million) stock bonus for its chief executive.
Compensation consultants estimate bonuses for 2011 fell by about 30 percent in 2011, with payouts dropping across major banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Year-end bonuses at Barclays Plc's investment bank are expected to be down about 30 percent this year, on average, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

"Of course bonuses are falling, so is profitability," a senior European banker told Reuters on the sidelines of the conference on Saturday, following a meeting on the future of financial services involving top bankers and regulators.
Several business leaders, speaking candidly during closed meetings, pointed to growing social inequality and said there was a need for more effective tax collection from the best paid.

And while critical of regulatory efforts to cap executive remuneration, some blamed overly generous compensation packages on a lack of shareholder engagement in the issue.

"It should be up to the boards, not the regulators. Where are the shareholders of these banks?" the head of one investment bank told Reuters. Like others who spoke about the issue, he declined to be named.

A speaker on a panel on compensation at the World Economic Forum meeting in the Swiss Alps said: "Institutional investors are not that interested because the amount of money that is involved is totally immaterial." When asked for a show of hands on whether executive compensation should be regulated, nobody in the audience of nearly 100 people raised their hand.

The investment banking head said part of the problem was that many bankers had come to believe that they alone were responsible for the profits generated in their business, rather than the role which they fulfilled.

The Daily Independent/Bangladesh/ 30th Jan 2012

Bangladesh Bank (BB) has formed a new intelligence unit to fight money laundering and establish more discipline and transparency in financial sector.

The unit, Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), will replace the BB’s Anti-Money Laundering Department and Financial Intelligence Unit, a press release of the central bank said. BFIU will carry out its operation as per power bestowed upon it by the Anti-Money Laundering Ordinance 2012, Anti- Terrorism Act 2009 and Anti-Terrorism Ordinance, 2012 (Amended).

BFIU will now take over the manpower and activities of the anti-money laundering department.
The deputy government who has been given the responsibility of the newly formed BFIU will act as head of BFIU, the executive director as deputy head of BFIU and the general manager as operational head of BFIU.

The Daily Independent/Bangladesh/ 30th Jan 2012

A week-long training course on ‘SME Financing’ for the senior officers and SPOs of Bangladesh Development Bank Limited (BDBL) concluded at the city’s BDBL Bhaban at Karwan Bazar recently.

Md Zillur Rahman, managing director of BDBL attended the function as chief guest and distributed certificates among the participants, said a press release.

Among others, Dr Md Zillur Rahman, engineer Md Rezaul Karim, deputy general manager and head of training, BDBL, Md Muzibur Rahman, assistant general manager and Shahnaz Parveen, senior principal officer were present at the function.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 30th Jan 2012

Md. Nurun Newaz Salim, chairman of NCC Bank Limited speaks at an annual conference-2012 in Manikganj recently.

NCC Bank collected total deposits of Tk 83.32 billion and disbursed total loans and advances of Tk 72.73 billion at the end of 2011.

The operating profit of the Bank is also higher than that of previous year.

This was informed at the three-day long Executives and Branch Managers’ Annual Conference-2012 concluded in Manikgonj on Saturday.

Md Nurun Newaz Salim, Chairman of the Bank inaugurated the conference as chief guest.

Mohammed Nurul Amin, Managing Director and CEO presided over the conference while Vice Chairman Mostafizur Rahman, Chairman of the Audit Committee Mahbubul Alam Tara, Directors Tofazzal Hossain, Khairul Alam Chaklader and Professor Shahiduddin Ahmed PhD were present as special guests.

Additional Managing Director Golam Hafiz Ahmed, Deputy Managing Directors Swapan Kumar Das, Mohabbat Khan, TM Faruque Chowdhury and Akhtar Hamid Khan, other senior executives and branch managers were also present on the occasion.

Md. Nurun Newaz Salim, Chairman of the Bank in his speech as chief guest, expressing satisfaction over the growth of the Bank in 2011, hoped that the trend of success will be accelerated even further in 2012.

Mohammed Nurul Amin, Managing Director evaluated last year’s performance of the Bank and called upon the branch managers to work hard for achieving the target set for the current year.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 30th Jan 2012