The account holders under the Janata Bank's 'Gharey Gharey Janata' scheme are not getting the services of the bank promised to deliver when the scheme was launched about a half a decade back in some of its selected branches in Dhaka city. Under the scheme, the bank is supposed to collect utility bills from the residences of the account holders against the payment of certain amount of fees. The bank initially appointed an employee on contractual basis for carrying out the job.

However, since the beginning, the employees concerned refrained themselves from the visiting the houses of the accountholders, who with a view to avoiding the hassles of paying their utility bills standing in long queues, themselves have been paying the bills at the respective bank branches. But the clients of the scheme on many occasions have been facing problems to pay their bills as the contractual employees have left their low-paid jobs. The bank, in the meanwhile, has discontinued the scheme after finding it to be non-viable.

"Discontinuation of the scheme does not anyway absolve the bank of its responsibility to deliver the services to the existing accountholders. The bank management must ensure the services promised to them", said a client who could not pay his bills due to the absence of the employee concerned at Janata Bank branch at Mirpur circle-10 Wednesday.

News: Financial Express/Bangladesh/20 Jan 2011

BASIC Bank Limited achieved Tk 2.15 billion (215 crore) operating profit for the year 2010. Bank's Chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu disclosed this, while speaking as the chief guest at its first branch and operational managers conference in the city recently, said a press release. Chaired by BASIC Bank Acting Managing Director Sk. Monzur Morshed, the conference was attended, among others, by its directors Jahangir Akhand Salim, Shubhashish Bose, Neelufar Ahmed, Shakhawat Hossain, Prof Kazi Akhtar Hossain, Md Fakhrul Islam and Md Anwarul Islam.

All general managers, operational in-charges, branch-in-charges and other executives of the head office of the bank attended the conference. The executives of the bank and branch in-charges reviewed the yearly business performance of 2010 and have taken an action plan for strengthening its operational activities of 2011. Mr Bacchu thanked all officials of the bank for achieving the operating profit in 2010. He stressed on selection of potential borrower and urged the executives to keep close supervision and monitoring of the loan for keeping the classification at the minimum level. Mr Morshed called for united efforts to accelerate business growth of the bank.

News: Financial Express/Bangladesh/20 Jan 2011

Vehicle protection provider company FINDER (a concern of Monico Limited) and Standard Chartered Bank and  have signed an agreement through which the Credit Card holders of the Bank will enjoy special InstaBuys @ 0% offers at FINDER. FINDER works as an intelligent watchdog for any personal or commercial vehicle. No matter where the vehicle is, with FINDER customer can trace it, track it and even trail it through internet & mobile phone.

FINDER provides with the real time tracking & monitoring via web, engine on/off through SMS, route & destination view via the web applications, distance monitoring, speed/distance report, location report, start/stop report and many more. This service will surely be a very effective one for the investors and will provide more security to the banks.

News Source:Financial Express/Bangladesh/20 Jan 2011

Prime Minister (PM) Sheikh Hasina said e-banking has been introduced to stop illegal Hundi trade and enabling the expatriate Bangladeshis to send their hard-earned remittances easily. "Effective steps are being taken so that the expatriates can send their hard-earned remittances through private banks side-by-side with state-owned commercial banks, the PM told a civic reception here Tuesday night. Expatriate Bangladeshis hosted the reception in honour of the Prime Minister. Referring to the Prabashi Kalyan Bank, Sheikh Hasina said the bank is being established so that workers can go abroad by taking loan from it.

Prime Minister pointed out, "To go abroad, people would not have to sell their property or land and they can repay their borrowed money by doing jobs abroad,". The PM said separate desk has also been created at the airport for stopping harassment of the expatriates side-by-side with stepping up security. PM Sheikh Hasina said information cells have also been opened at the district level to know the position of expatriate Bangladeshis. Despite global economic recession, the PM said, export earnings of Bangladesh have increased to a great extent, while the expatriates have been contributing a lot in raising remittances. "The government would take steps to ensure the voting rights of the expatriates and provide them with machine readable passports," the PM added.

The PM also stressed the need for taking separate arrangements to solve the housing problems of the expatriates. "All kinds of facilities have been ensured so that Bangladeshi expatriates can invest their hard-earned money in the country, the PM mentioned.

News Source:Financial Express/Bangladesh/20 Jan 2011

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) board approved a $2 million grant to launch a remittance investment project to provide safe, affordable remittance services to thousands of Bangladeshi migrant workers and their families. The Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction will be used in the project to fund technology linking micro finance institutions and banks. It will give at least 20,000 rural migrant worker households access to formal remittance services for the first time, ADB said in a statement yesterday.

Mayumi Ozaki, finance specialist (rural and microfinance) for ADB's South Asia Department said, "Currently, many rural migrants and their families are forced to rely on informal remittance outlets which are undocumented and risky,". "This project, using debit cards, points of sale terminals and other innovations will allow people in remote areas to send and receive funds through the formal banking system." The project will fund remittance and financial literacy training and an awareness campaign to provide guidance to returning migrant workers on investment products and employment opportunities.

The objective is to help each household save, or invest, an additional $300 a year, ADB said. The Bangladesh government will contribute $29,000, with banks and microfinance institutions providing nearly $386,000, for a total cost of over $2.4 million. The finance ministry is the executing agency for the project, which will run for three years to 2013.

News Source: The Daily Star/Bangladesh/20 Jan 2011