Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman said the financial sector in Bangladesh with its limited, regulated external exposure was virtually unaffected by the global crisis; remaining liquid, solvent and free of contagion from toxic assets.

Following the global crisis, regulatory oversight on risk management has been strengthened, compulsory stress testing routines have been introduced to bring out vulnerabilities. Banks are now under Basel II capital adequacy regime, with the Basel III modifications to be phased in duly.

The Governor said this while presiding over a session of the 2nd CUTS-CIRC International Conference on Reviewing the Global Experience on Economic Regulation- A Forward Looking Perspective held in New Delhi on Tuesday, according to a message received here yesterday.

But for the recent global financial crisis that markets and institutions in mature advanced economies are still to recover fully from, the title chosen for this session would probably have been disputed hotly; many would have complained about feeling of suffocation from over-regulation, he said.

Wide ranging as the post-crisis global financial sector regulatory reforms may seem, the actual changes are really incremental and marginal rather than very extensive or radical; some of the changes (like those in capital requirements) will be introduced gradually over a number of years.

Little has been done so far on important overarching issues like preventing buildup of global imbalances from persistent unbalanced domestic policies in major economies; and in reforming the global monetary order with a mechanism tethering global liquidity expansion to growth in real global output of goods and services, so as not to permit the financial sector run amok with speculative excesses.

While some regulatory deficit did exist in the run up to the global crisis, having a more complete regulatory toolkit with the deficits plugged in will not by itself make the financial sector more immune from future recurrence of crisis situation, said Atiur adding: “The main factor setting the global financial system on slippery path to crisis was not a deficit in regulation but gross neglect and lapse in compliance with regulations that existed, particularly in areas of risk appraisal and containment.”

“The problem is rooted deep in human nature. In good times we tend to disregard and cut corners around regulatory disciplines, to ignore looming buildup of risks until a crisis befalls, and sit down to rewrite cautious regulations afterwards,” he said adding: “The mood of caution does not last long after the crisis is over; when good times roll in things revert back to the old cycle of compliance lapse- risk buildup and crisis- regulatory revisions. We need to bear this reality in mind while attempting to chart safe and stable progress path for the financial sector.”

The main thrusts of post crisis regulatory reforms focusing on vulnerabilities of financial institutions and markets are broadly appropriate; but some promising approaches for better stability remain under-explored, said Atiur. “One of these is a drastic diminution of the heavy dependence of banks and financial institutions on deposits and debts repayable with interest at agreed rates, regardless of whether they sink or swim. In severe downturns and crisis situations this becomes a recipe for market collapse with chains of default,” he continued.

News: Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ 21-Apr-2011

The Repo auction of Bangladesh Bank (BB) for commercial banks and financial institutions was held on Tuesday. 18 bids of one-day tenor amounting to total of Tk 28370.13 crore were received. Of those, 18 bids amounting to total of Tk 2002.70 crore were accepted, said a BB release.
Moreover, 15 primary dealers of one-day tenor amounting to total of Tk 5402.68 crore were provided as liquidity support facility. The rate of interest both of Repo and liquidity support facility was 6.00 per cent per annum.

News:  The Independent/ Bangladesh/ 21-Apr-2011

GPIT one of the leading and fastest growing IT companies in Bangladesh, has given consultancy in the successful implementation of Middleware Solution to Brac Bank Ltd. The successful completion of the project has opened new avenues for GPIT to broaden its horizons in terms of achieving the desired results of success in the IT industry. 
GPIT team has consulted for the installation, implementation and optimization of Oracle Service Bus (OSB), a world class and highly sophisticated Middleware solution for BRAC Bank in collaboration with BRAC Bank IT team, which will provide a cost effective and easy to maintain application communication platform for the integration among various applications of BRAC Bank.
For the project GPIT ensured the deliverables within the agreed time frame and quality. This was a very time bounded project, through which GPIT has proved its strong capabilities to the extern
al business community once again. GPIT has more than 400+ top skilled IT resources working together for ensuring quality service to its clients, both locally and internationally.
Kjersti Thoen, Chief Financial Officer, A. S. M. Wasi Noman, Director-Development, Sohael Reza, Director- Operations, AKM Fahmedul Haque, Acting Chief Commercial Officer, Syeda Yasmin Rahman, Chief People Officer of GPIT,. Nawed Iqbal, Chief Technology Officer, Mamun Seraji, Head of Business Systems Management, Firoz Ahsan, Head of Technology Operations of BRAC Bank and other high officials were present in the closing ceremony of the project.

News:  The Independent/ Bangladesh/ 21-Apr-2011

Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd (IBBL) will set up 150 ATM booths of its own and plans to share service with 1,000 shared booths across the country within this year.

The bank is now providing service through 54 self-installed and 124 shared ATMs, said a press release.

Mohammad Abdul Mannan, managing director of the bank, hinted the initiative on Tuesday while inaugurating the bank’s 55th ATM booth on IBN Sina Trust Building in the city’s Dhanmondi area, the news release said.

Md Nazibur Rahman, executive vice president and head of Dhaka South Zone, Muhammad Kamaluddin (Jasim), senior vice president and manager of the bank’s Dhanmondi branch, were also present on the occasion.

Abdul Mannan said the service of IBBL is spread in the international sphere. This bank has turned into the leading bank of the country with confidence of the people of the country.

He also informed that 28 percent of the total remittance of the country is handled through IBBL.

The bank handles around 7 million deposit and investment clients and 60 thousand shareholders, he added.

News: Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ 21-Apr-2011

Md Abdul Jalil has recently been re-elected as chairman of Mercantile Bank Ltd, the bank said in a statement yesterday.

A postgraduate of Dhaka University, Jalil is the general secretary of Bangladesh Awami League. The lawmaker was the commerce minister of Bangladesh during 1996-2001.

News: The Daily Star/ Bangladesh/ 21-Apr-2011