Nurun Newaz Salim has recently been elected chairman of NCC Bank, the bank said in a statement.

A sponsor director of the bank, Salim was the vice chairman of the bank and chairman of the executive committee.

He is also the chairman of Electro Mart Ltd and Trade International Marketing Ltd.

The bank also elected Mostafizur Rahman Dulal as vice chairman. He is the chairman of Crown Group, director of National Life Insurance Company.

News: The Daily Star/ Bangladesh/ Jun-09-2011

Dutch-Bangla Bank Limi- ted recently arranged a day-long workshop on SME financing for its officers to make them more aware about the importance of SME financing to the national economy.

KS Tabrez, managing director of the bank, inaugurated the workshop titled ‘SME financing: Importance and operations’ at the bank’s Dilkusha training centre in the city, said a press release.

Terming SMEs as foundation of national economy, the managing director said it acts as catalyst in growth of the economy.

The SMEs ensure supply chain in forward and backward linkages of macro economy, he added.

News: The Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ Jun-09-2011

The upcoming Ramadan will see two to four times more imports of rice, sugar and cooking oil, compared to last year, which will help contain the price spirals of essentials during the fasting month, according to a Bangladesh Bank (BB) statement issued yesterday.

The central bank said this after Governor Atiur Rahman met the chief executives of public limited banks. The BB estimates were on the basis of unsettled letters of credit (LC) with banks.

The opening of new LCs is going on, the BB said, adding: "If the tendency of making hefty profits is shunned and the supply channels are kept properly operational, the unwanted price spirals will not occur in Ramadan.”

Till May 28 this fiscal year, LCs worth $455 million meant for rice import remained unsettled, which was $117 million during the same period last fiscal year, according to the central bank.

Such unsettled LCs for sugar are worth $739 million, up from $288 million last year, and for edible oil $757 million against last year's $390 million.

News: The Daily Star/ Bangladesh/ Jun-06-2011

A Memorandum of Under-standing (MoU) was signed here yesterday among Local Government Division(LGD), UNDP supported Access to Information (A2I) Programme of the Prime Minister’s Office and Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited for introducing mobile banking to reach banking services to the rural people.

National Project Director of the A2I Programme Md Nazrul Islam Khan, Additional Secretary of LGD Syed Mahbub Hossain and Managing Director of Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited KS Tabez signed the MoU on behalf of their respective organi-zations at the Prime Minister’s Office.

Officials of the A2I Programme and con-cerned organi-zations, among others, were present on the occasion.

Nazrul Islam said the union information service centers (UISCs) have been set up in 4501 Union Parishads across the country to bring rural people under the information technology network for developing their lives and livelihood.

Only one in ten people has access to the banking services in the country, he said adding that introduction of mobile banking through UISCs would open a new chapter in the banking services to cover the rural people.

Mobile banking through UISCs will help to enhance saving of rural people and it will expedite development process in the country, Nazrul added.

Describing the singing of MoU as a significant event for mobile banking services, Tabrez said, “This MoU will strengthen our efforts in giving access to low-income, mostly rural people of the country”

According to the MoU, Dutch-Bangla Bank will introduce mobile banking in 361 union information service centers of six districts—Narayanganj,

Munshiganj, Manik-ganj, Narsingdi, Gazipur and Dhaka—as pilot programme to provide banking facilities to the grassroots level in the country.

The remaining UISCs will be brought under the programme in phases.

All banking facilities including opening of bank account, with-drawal, depositing of money and receiving remittances will be available through the mobile banking. BSS

Grameen Bank to operate in normal course: Muhith

DHAKA: Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith yesterday said the operations of the Grameen Bank would continue as the pioneering micro lending agency is a matter of “Bangladesh’s pride”.

“Grameen Bank is a matter of pride of Bangladesh and therefore its activities will go on in normal course,” a finance ministry statement quoted him as saying as US ambassador in Dhaka James F Moriarty called on him at his office.

It said the Grameen Bank issue appeared as a topic of discussion as they exchanged opinions on different financial issues including the US investment in Bangladesh.

News: Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ Jun-06-2011

Xiaoyu Zhao, Vice-President (Operations 1) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) arrived in Dhaka on Sunday for a one-day official visit. The Vice-President is accompanied by S. Hafeez Rahman, Director General of ADB’s South Asia Department. The vice-president will attend a signing ceremony for the ADB loan agreement today (Monday) with the government for the Padma Multipurpose Bridge project.  During the visit, Mr. Zhao will also hold discussions with senior government officials, including the Minister of Finance, and the Adviser to the Prime Minister for Economic Affairs. The discussions will focus on policy and implementation issues related to ADB operations in Bangladesh, including assistance for regional cooperation, climate change, energy, transport, governance, and primary education projects.
ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members - 48 from the region.

News: The Independent/ Bangladesh/ Jun-06-2011