National Bank Limited has distributed agricultural loan among the potato growers of Tongibari upazila of Munshiganj recently.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman and Whip Shagufta Yasmin MP were present as special guests at the function, said a press release.

The bank also distributed warm clothes among the poor people of the area.

Bangladesh Krishi Bank Chairman Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled, Shuvas Shingh Roy, director of Sonali Bank Ltd, Azizul Alam, deputy commissioner(DC) of Munshigonj, Eng. Kazi Wahid, chairman of Tongibari upazila and Abdul Jalil, upazila nirbahi officer (UNO) of Tongibari were present on the occasion.

Neaz Ahmed, managing director of NBL presided over the function while AKM Shafiqur Rahman, deputy managing director delivered his welcome addresses.

Source: daily-sun, Bangladesh/31st Dec 2010

The Prime Minister’s Office is scrutinising Garmeen Bank Ordinance 1983 to settle the issue of extending tax exemption facility to the microcredit organisation, said highly placed sources.

The tax exemption facility, provided in line with the ordinance since its promulgation, will no longer exist after today if it is not extended further.

The PMO is also examining the Grameen Bank’s service rule, especially the legality of Dr Muhammad Yunus to retain the post of its managing director for 20 years. The Grameen Bank issues came to the limelight after a Norwegian television documentary alleged that the Nobel laureate also founder of the bank has diverted fund of the bank to another venture.

The Finance Ministry on Tuesday sent a letter to the PMO apprising the latter of the information regarding the Grameen Bank’s tax exemption and the post of Dr Yunus.

“The government wants to amend the Grameen Bank ordinance 1983 to acquire more shares for the government in it and keeping that in mind the Prime Minister’s Office is scrutinising the ordinance,” said a senior official at the Finance Ministry.

The Grameen Bank is almost unlikely to get further extension of the tax waiver it has been enjoying for the last 27 years.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina earlier vehemently criticised Dr Yunus for, what she termed, exploitation of the poor loan recipients. She also ordered probe into the fund diversion.

The facility was last extended by the previous army-backed interim government. The bank has been enjoying the facility under the provision-33 of the Grameen Bank Ordinance 1983.

The National Board of Revenue has already informed the Finance Ministry that it (NBR) did not support the proposal for extending the corporate tax waiver from the next year, the sources said.

However, the NBR expressed its apprehension that the Grameen Bank might retain the corporate tax exemption, should it go to the court. The revenue board pointed out that the Grameen Bank is legally entitled to the facility as it is distributing micro-credit facilities to rural people.

Recently question has been raised over the bank’s interest rate and its real contribution to poverty alleviation though it has been making windfall profit for years together. The Grameen Bank posted a net profit of Tk 371.5 million in 2009, down from over Tk 1.30 billion of the previous year, according to the bank data.

The board also said that it always opposed the proposal for giving the Grameen Bank tax exemption facility but the Finance Ministry provided it in view of the legal status of the GB.

An official of the Finance Ministry said that a person could not be managing director for 20 years under any law, but Dr Yunus has been doing so violating all rules.

Source: daily-sun, Bangladesh/31st Dec 2010

Prime Minister Shiekh Hasina on Thursday expressed disappointment at the fact that no money allegedly siphoned off by a section of politicians, businessmen and bureaucrats during the past political rules could be recovered yet.

At a cabinet meeting she asked Bangladesh Bank to bolster its anti-money laundering activities to improve the rate of success in recovering the money.

Bangladesh Bank and other state-owned agencies have not been able to recover a single penny since the Awami League-led coalition government assumed office in January 2009, sources said. Experiences of Nigeria and Philippines suggest that recovery process of stolen money is quite lengthy and may even take 15 years.

The issue is serious for Hasina’s government as the success of the initiative will legitimise its allegations that a section of politicians and businessmen—mostly loyal to BNP—siphoned off money to foreign banks during the 2001-2006 BNP rule.

Accusations of laundering a huge amount of money are frequently made by AL leaders against the two sons of former prime minister and BNP chief Khaleda Zia.

The Anti-Corruption Commission has already filed two cases—one each against Tarique Rahman and Arafat Rahman—in connection with money laundering.

It is likely to file more cases against them soon, sources said.

The initiative to recover stolen money was taken by the last caretaker govern-ment, which arrested over 200 politicians and officials on graft charges.

Many former ministers and lawmakers were charged with amassing illegal wealth and siphoning off money.

More than Tk 12 billion was seized on charge of money laundering during the 22-month-long rule of the caretaker administration, but the amount was recovered from local sources.

Assuming power in January 2009, the present AL government decided to carry forward the initiative.

A senior executive of Bangladesh Bank, said the central bank had already taken steps, including striking deals with a number of foreign central banks and international financial institutions, for information about the money stolen from Bangladesh.

The official, who was present at yesterday’s cabinet meeting, told the daily sun that Bangladesh Bank has also brought about changes in the existing money laundering law in line with suggestions from a multilateral organisation to get its membership.

Source: daily-sun, Bangladesh/31st Dec 2010

Social Islami Bank Ltd has centralized its international trade processing through a focused centralized trade processing unit (CTPU) at its Foreign Exchange branch.

The Managing Director of the bank Mr Muhammad Ali inaugurated its centralized trade processing from Bank's Nawabpur Branch.

On this occasion in a recent gathering of the valued customers of the branch Mr Ali emphasized that the bank has upgraded its service distribution system for international trade services in all its branches irrespective of being an AD or non AD branch; customers could now receive their desired service through online connectivity with the centralized trade processing unit.

More so, centralized trade processing unit having efficient officers managing international trade finance operations in a focused unit shall concentrate much in elevating the standard of international trade, managing pertinent risks, more effectively and ensuring regulatory compliances in line with other developed banks shall in turn support our customers in managing their international business more efficiently too.

Mr Muhammad Ali informed that bank will very soon open another such centralized trade processing unit in Chittagong to support the branches of the port city.

Source: The Financial Express, Bangladesh/31th Dec 2010

A new bank, 50 percent owned by non-resident Bangladeshis, has received a green light from Bangladesh Bank.

The central bank will seek applications from interested NRB entrepreneurs, said an official, after the BB's Board of Directors on Tuesday approved a proposal to set up the bank.

The central bank will also make a set of criteria for evaluating the application forms.

The proposal mentioned that the amount of foreign direct investment in Bangladesh is much lower than in neighbouring countries.

NRBs are interested to invest here and their demand for establishing banks owned by them was raised many times in different forums.

Considering the huge remittances sent by the NRBs, formation of such a bank to create a handsome foreign exchange reserve has opened up a positive side, the proposal said.

In line with a guideline, also approved by the board, the paid-up capital of the NRB bank will be Tk 400 crore. The NRBs will provide the half of the paid-up capital and the rest will be raised through a public offering.

An entrepreneur can hold a minimum of Tk 10 crore in shares or a maximum of 10 percent of the total shares. No share of the entrepreneur can be transferred in three years without the central bank's permission.

A non-refundable amount of $15,000 has to be deposited with the application.

There are about 50 local and foreign commercial banks operating in the country, of which 30 are private.

The approval for any new bank had been on hold from 2001, following the presence of more-than-required banks and criticisms from various quarters.

 Source: The Daily Star