Bangladesh Bank (BB) has advised all commercial banks and financial institutions to disburse profits to shareholders, through the Electronic Fund Transfer Network (EFTN). The central bank issued a circular on Thursday, in this regard, which was signed by AKM Fazlur Rahman, deputy general manager of department of currency management and payment system.
The circular mentioned that the EFTN system had been launched by the central bank, on February 28, in order to make financial transactions fast, efficient and safe. The system is cost-effective and saves time, the
circular noted.
Earlier, 40 private and state-owned commercial banks had joined the central bank's EFTN credit transfer initiative, by rolling out the service in branches across the country.
Under the programme, BB has provided the foundation for access to every banking and non-banking consumer, as well as business customers, to facilitate electronic commerce, inward remittance and salary payment, at lower costs and shorter time.
Terming the EFTN system a milestone for the country's banking history, central bank governor Dr Atiur Rahman said the network will have extensive reach by connecting, for the first time, all the banks in Bangladesh, for transfer of funds electronically.
He said creation of the EFTN system is the most critical component in the development of a modern payments system infrastructure.
"It (EFTN) is the electronic highway of digital banking. In the near future, I expect that all banks will begin processing electronic funds transfers through this network," he said.
The BB governor also maintained that the transaction volume on the network will grow slowly, as banks would have to explain the benefits of electronic payments to their clients.
He said education and marketing efforts are necessary to maximise capabilities of the network.
Dr Rahman added that EFTN is an integral component for reaching the goal of Digital Bangladesh, for financial services.

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

The Bangladesh Bank (BB), country’s central bank, launched an automated clearing house at its Rajshahi office to ensure faster settlement of transactions and payment systems.

BB’s Deputy Governor Ziaul Hasan formally inaugurated the system at function in Rajshahi city on Thursday.

General manager of BB Rajshahi Office Zinnatul Bakiya chaired the function. Executive director of the BB Dasgupta Asim Qumar and managing director of Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank Pradip Kumar Dutta spoke at the ceremony as special guests.

In his speech, the deputy governor said the new system will enable the banks to exchange cheques automatically on the online. Physical cheques will not be needed to send to the clearinghouse at BB, he added.

Under the new system, payments will be settled using automated cheque clearing system and electronic fund transfer among all the public and private commercial banks in the region.

BSS adds: Addressing the opening ceremony, BB Deputy Governor Ziaul Hassan Siddiqui, said the banks branches are required to make arrangements and develop infrastructure to meet the requirements of the new system.

“We’re working to help the commercial banks adapt to the new system so that they can able to avail the total benefits of the modern system,” he added.

He also said the central bank has already asked the commercial banks to procure necessary software and hardware for establishing link between the bank concerned and the central bank.

Siddiqui said that the advent of the BACH moves the region to the forefront of modern payment processing and puts the country amongst the world’s leaders in the use of such solutions.

“We moved one step ahead of many other countries by introducing this modern technology-based payment and transaction system,” he added.

A large number of executives and senior officers of BB and different other scheduled banks were present at the ceremony.

News: Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ Apr-08-2011

National Credit and Commerce (NCC) Bank Limited has launched a disaster recovery (DR) centre at Uttara in the city yesterday.

Md Harunur Rashid, vice chairman of the bank formally inaugurated the centre as the chief guest at a function, aid a press release.

Mohammed Nurul Amin, managing director and CEO of the bank chaired the function.

NCC directors Nurul Islam, Tofazzal Hossain, Din M Rana, KZ Mahmud, Khairul Alam Chaklader and Md Humayun Kabir attended the function as special guests.

Addressing the function the vice chairman hopped that the centre would play a significant role in promotion of trust among the customers of the bank.

The bank will be providing increased quality services with efficiency and reliability to the customers, he added.

Managing director and CEO Mohammed Nurul Amin said the world is moving toward green banking where dynamism, high rate of productivity, improved operational efficiency, enhanced shareholder value and regulator’s compliance are inevitable.

Providing quality services would not be possible without a strong IT infrastructure, he added.

The centre will ensure backup of its entire daily banking operational activities, he said.

News: Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ Apr-08-2011

Thevakumar Kandiah, country director of Asian Development Bank (ADB), speaks at the launch of ADB's Outlook 2011 at the bank's office in Dhaka yesterday. M Zahid Hossain, senior country specialist, is also seen.Photo: STAR

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) cautioned yesterday higher inflation could affect Bangladesh's macroeconomic stability.

The Manila-based lender projected inflationary pressure is likely to grow due to the sharp rise in global commodity and food prices, the likely further depreciation of taka, the recent hike in power tariff and expected increase in CNG and fuel oil prices.

"Although inflation is still under control, higher inflation could affect the industrial production and macroeconomic stability,” said M Zahid Hossain, senior country specialist of ADB, while launching the Asian Development Outlook 2011 at the bank's Bangladesh office in Dhaka.

“Monetary policies are unlikely to fully counter them (supply side pressures),” said the ADB official, quoting the report.

The outlook is the ADB's flagship annual report that analyses its member countries' macroeconomic indicators and accordingly makes its projection.

The lender projected this year's inflation at 8 percent, which would rise to 8.5 percent next year.

The ADB said a major challenge for policymakers in the country would be to balance the needs for taming inflation and to ensure that credit to the private sector is not stifled.

It warned rising oil and food prices could affect the whole developing Asia's macroeconomic stability.

Food costs across the region hit record highs in February, the ADB said. Also, crude oil prices surged to two-and-a-half-year highs on Monday with Brent crude topping $120 a barrel on fears the ongoing conflict in Libya and unrest across the Middle East could disrupt supplies.

“Inflation expectations can fuel wage-price spiral in the region,” said the report.

The ADB said growth in Bangladesh's gross domestic product (GDP) would likely increase to 6.3 percent this year, up from 5.8 percent in fiscal 2010, mainly due to rebounding export growth. The GDP is projected to grow at 6.7 percent in fiscal 2012.

The ADB's projection on GDP is lower than the government's 6.7 percent for this fiscal year and 7 percent for the next year. However, the ADB said its projections were assumed on stable political and weather conditions, said Hossain.

On the sectoral growth projection, the report said a rise in external demand and higher domestic capacity will increase the industrial production to 7.5 percent this fiscal year, up from 6 percent in the previous year. It will grow further by 7.8 percent in the next fiscal year riding on the improvement in power supply.

The services sector, which accounts for half of the country's $100 billion economy, will rise slightly to 6.7 percent this year, up from 6.4 percent a year ago.

The farm sector is projected to grow at 4.1 percent this year, down from 4.7 percent in fiscal 2010, said the ADB report.

On the fiscal ground, the ADB hailed the robust revenue growth -- 28.4 percent in the first seven months of the current fiscal year till January. The growth is attributed to the rising domestic economic activities and better tax compliance aided by reforms.

Although the report said budgetary allocations for food, fuel and agriculture inputs will be larger this year, fiscal deficit is expected to be contained within the budgeted level of 5 percent, mainly because of under spending for development outlay.

The ADB said current account is likely to show a tiny surplus of 0.2 percent of GDP this year from 3.7 percent in the previous year, due to slow remittance growth and widening trade gap.

Thevakumar Kandiah, country director of ADB, said Bangladesh has three major challenges to exploit its growth potentials. These are: investments in infrastructure, skill development to meet growth requirement and managing the growing urbanisation.

“The government lacks in project development capacity,” said Kandiah, regarding the public-private partnership initiative. “I hope to see some results in 3 to 6 months,” he added.

News: Daily Star/Bangladesh/ Apr-07-2011

Bangladesh Bank (BB) has appointed a spokesperson to deal with media and public inquiry, according to a circular issued by the central bank on Wednesday. As per circular, Executive Director (ED) of BB, Md Jahangir Alam will be discharging his duties as the spokesperson until further notice. The circular also directed other officials to abide by the rules and regulations of the central bank regarding “Secrecy”.
The spokesperson will provide information regarding the bank’s policy, day-to-day activities and other events.
The circular also directed all officials and employees of the central bank to cooperate him in discharging the duties.

 

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