Bangladesh Bank is going to introduce online Credit Information Bureau (CIB) reports of banks and financial institutions this week that would bar loan defaulters from contesting elections. Talking to BSS today, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Dr ATM Shamsul Huda welcomed the central bank’s new initiative.
“Online CIB reports would help the commission to identify the loan defaulters and take prompt decision in canceling their nomination papers,” said the CEC.
In the past, the EC had to wait for days to get information about loan defaulter candidates and many candidates had won the elections by keeping the commission, the banks and financial institutions in the dark.
From now on, loan defaulters would not be able to hide information from the Election Commission (EC) and the concerned bank and financial institution the central bank opens the much- awaited online CIB report service on July 19. Governor of the central bank Dr Atiur Rahman is expected to inaugurate the service at its Motijheel head office. All 47 banks and 39 other financial institutions would be able to collect CIB report using this online service.Following the existing law of the land, the CIB report will include the name of an individual who has defaulted repayment of at least Taka 50,000 loan, bank sources said.

News: The Independent/ Bangladesh/ July-17-2011

M. Wahidul Haque and Salim Ahmed have been re-elected the chairman and vice chairman of the board of directors of AB Bank Ltd recently.

The board of directors re-elected them as chairman and vice chairman at its meeting on July 12, said a press release.

Wahidul Haque joined AB Bank Board in 2007 and was elected the chairman of the bank in 2008. He was the chairman of Bangladesh Tea Association for the longest period. His contribution to the country’s Tea industry of Bangladesh is widely acclaimed.

Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ July-17-2011

Al-Arafah Islami Bank has recently distributed free solar panels among the poor of Madhapur upazila of Habiganj as a part of its corporate social responsibility.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman inaugurated the programme while Badiur Rahman, chairman of the bank, presided over the function, said a press release.

Ekramul Haque, managing director of Al-Arafah Bank, Mahmudul Hasan, deputy commissioner (DC) and Kamriul Amin, police superintendent of Habiganj, were also present on the occasion.

Through this programme, the bank has distributed solar panel to 25 families of the area.

The BB chief said the solar panels would help to ease the country’s power shortage to some extent.

Atiur said the commercial banks make profit by investing money among the common people of the society. So they owe some responsibilities to do something for the people.

Chairman of the bank informed that the bank has provided solar panels with easy terms and installment in some the remote areas of the country.

The bank already distributed 50000 watt solar panels to 11,00 families through the bank’s 14 branches.

News: Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ July-17-2011

National Credit and Commerce (NCC) Bank Ltd has opened two ATM booths in Chittagong recently to extend the bank’s services to people.

M Nurun Newaz Salim, chairman of the bank, formally inaugurated the booths at Agrabad and Nasirabad in the Chittagong city as chief guest, said a press release.

Customers of the bank will avail banking services including 24-hour cash withdrawal, balance inquiry, utility bill payment, mini statement and pin change facilities without any charge to the booths, the news release added.

NCC Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Mohammed Nurul Amin its Deputy Managing Directors Swapan Kumar Das and Mohabbat Khan, among others, were also present on the occasion.

News: Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ July-17-2011

Former BB governor Dr Salehuddin Ahmed said corporate governance had a very important role in carrying out daily banking operations smoothly.
Deterioration in corporate governance means banks are losing transparency and accountability, he added while asked to comment on the role of the corporate governance in banking sector . “It is not at all a good sign. Often, interference destroys efficiency of banks and creates conflict between the management and the board. Such practices must be stopped at any cost," he said. Politicization of the boards of state-owned commercial banks (SCBs) is proving to be damaging for corporate governance, officials of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told The Independent recently.
Corporate governance means establishing strategic objectives and a set of corporate values that are communicated throughout the organisation, setting and enforcing clear lines of responsibility, transparency and accountability throughout the organisation, sources said.
Implementing corporate governance in a transparent manner means ensuring that the board members are qualified for their respective positions and have a clear understanding of their roles, and are not subject to undue influence to disrupt proper functioning of banking activities, BB sources said.
“But in many cases a lot of non-professional and inexperienced persons are appointed on the board of directors of SCBs. As a result, corporate governance is severely compromised at those banks,” said a top BB official preferring anonymity.
Global experts have identified a number of practices, including undue influence of management and/or concerns outside the banking sphere, which mar corporate governance and are mainly responsible for upsetting loan portfolio, poor auditing, and inconsistent financial reports of banks, the source said.
“Inconsistent financial reporting and poor auditing mislead GDP (gross domestic product) estimates while poor management of loan portfolio leads to liquidity crunch,” the official said.
On this issue Dr Salehuddin said, BB should identify the reasons that are relegating corporate governance to the back and seek the government help to improve the prevailing situation, he pointed out.
"Our economy is moving fast. So revisiting the banking sector is a must for the apex bank to ensure that banks are complying with the core principles of Basel II which comes with corporate governance guidelines,” he said.
Basel III is coming soon but Bangladesh's banking sector is yet to implement the Basel II, he added.  The renowned professional banker said market risks, credit risk and supervisory role of banks should be strengthened to comply with the Basel principles.
"It will not be possible for the apex bank to promote strong corporate governance in banks unless their management is kept free from politics," he said and noted that the central bank should strictly monitor banking appointments to ensure that real professionals are taken as board members.
“A regulatory intervention is needed to ensure that bank supervisors foster a collaborative working relationship with managements rather than having an adversarial one,” he added.

News: The Independent/ Bangladesh/ July-14-2011