Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman said the banking sector of the country has set an example in maintaining its financial health even during the global economic meltdown when banks in the developed countries suffered a severe liquidity crisis.

The banks in the country don’t have liquidity crisis even now, although few may be in such crisis due to aggressive banking, which he said should be mended immediately.

Talking about inflation, the central bank governor suggested that bank loans in unproductive private sectors be checked to prevent wastage and control inflation.

Atiur was speaking at the launching ceremony of the automation of 11 branches of Agrani Bank at a hotel in Dhaka yesterday.

Agrani Bank, a state-owned commercial bank (SCB), has already computerised around half of its 867 branches and also opened 97 ATM (automated teller machine) booths in different cities of the country as part of its digitising banking service, the governor told the function.

“I am happy to learn that Agrani Bank is doing well in digitising its activities,” he said.

The BB boss said works were underway to bring the head office, circle offices, corporate and authorised dealer (AD) branch including regional branches of the bank under online facilities soon.

He also lauded the bank saying its capital, deposit, branches and manpower hold a good position now.

He said the bank would soon introduce facilities like SMS banking, mobile banking, internet banking and tele-banking.

He urged the bank authorities to give importance on core banking solution like that of other SCBs to compete with the private commercial banks.

BB governor also made a call to all banks of the country to expedite their efforts in providing loans for SME and agriculture sectors as well as initiate green banking programmes.

Agrani Bank Chairman Dr Khondoker Bazlul Haque, its Managing Director Syed Abdul Hamid, among others, were also present on the occasion.

News: Daily Sun /Bangladesh/14 Feb 2011

Eastern Bank Ltd yesterday launched a limited edition of ten Visa prepaid cards to mark the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup.

EBL Managing Director and CEO Ali Reza Iftekhar launched the special prepaid cards during a press briefing at a city hotel, said a press release.

Coloured after the ten test playing nations –the card is first of its kind in Bangladesh and all over the world, the news release added.

Anyone can buy a prepaid visa card from selected EBL branches and use it at more than ten thousand shops, restaurants and ATMs countrywide.

The card will be sold at zero balance and the buyer can load any amount up to Tk 50,000.

Muklesur Rahman, deputy managing director (DMD) for Consumer Banking of EBL, DMD of Corporate Banking M. Fakhrul Alam, Head of Cards Nazeem A. Choudhury, Head of Brand & Marketing Ziaul Karim, Head of Cards Operations Md. Saifuzzaman and Head of Cards Business Md. Khorshed Anowar were present at the press briefing.

News: Daily Sun /Bangladesh/14 Feb 2011

Finance Minister AMA Muhith Friday defended the appointment of political persons as members of the board of directors of the state-owned commercial banks (SCBs), justifying their necessity in achieving the goals of the government. He was speaking to the newsmen after a meeting with the directors and top officials of three SCBs - Rupali, Janata and Basic banks. "We've appointed politically conscious people as bank directors to achieve the goals of a political government", the minister said.

The remarks came amid widespread criticism over appointing 'non-professional' bank directors for SCBs. Pointing to the agenda of the meeting, he said, "This meeting was just the continuation of the meeting of January 27". The minister met with the directors and top officials of two SCBs - Sonali and Agrani banks - at that time. "We've reminded the directors that their first duty is to protect the interest of depositors", the minister said, adding that development of the nation and economy comes to the second position as the responsibility of the directors.

"We talked about the issues of banks' performances and functions of boards today", Muhith said. Pointing to the report published about an SCB in a Bengali daily, the minister said, "That report is 'immature' and 'out of ignorance'." Governor of Bangladesh Bank Atiur Rahman, members of board of directors, chairmen, and managing directors of Rupali, Janata and Basic banks and top officials of the central bank were present at the meeting.

News: The Financial Express/Bangladesh/12 Feb 2011

A four-week foundation training for the newly appointed officers of Sonali Bank Limited was ended at its training institute in Rajshahi on Thursday afternoon.
Rajshahi Divisional General Manager of the bank Hassan Iqbal, who attended the closing ceremony as the chief guest, urged upon the trained officers to devote themselves in overall development activities of the bank to face any problem competently. In this regard, he said gaining professional skills is inevitable to attain success in the banking sector coupled with reflecting the hopes and aspirations of the clients in general. He also asked them to utilize their acquired knowledge properly to brighten the image of the bank through making their working fields free from all sorts of irregularities and corruption.

News: The Bangladesh Today/12 Feb 2011

Bangladesh Bank (BB) today started a two day workshop on "Strategic Planning and Management Strengthening Workshop-2011" at Brac CDMA in Savar in order to evaluate the achievement and success of different strategies taken by the central bank last year as well as to take correction and expansion initiatives following contemporary issues. The Central Bank Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman in his welcome address at the workshop called upon all officials of the BB to evaluate the last year's achievement and to set up the future work plan through correcting the past mistakes with a view to effectively implementing the strategic plan for the year 2010 to 2014.

He urged the officials of the bank to emphasize on various continuous steps after setting up the vision and strategy. The steps are--communicating the changed vision, establishing a sense of urgency, empowering the broad based action, creating the guiding coalition, generating short term wins, consolidating gains and producing more change and anchoring new approaches in the culture. The governor called upon the bank's officials to carry out effective and fruitful roles in national economy through ensuring proper implementation of the strategic planning.

Among others, BB Deputy Governor Ziaul Hasan Siddiqui, BB Senior Consultant Allah Malik Kazemi and all executive directors and general managers of the BB along with other high officials were present at the function.

News: The Independent/Bangladesh/12 Feb 2011