Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited (DBBL) signed an agreement with Bangladesh Bank on refinancing under Asian Development Bank (ADB) Credit Fund for development of the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) sector.

Sukamal Sinha Choudhury, general manager of Bangladesh Bank’s SME and Special Programs Department and K.S. Tabrez, managing director of Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited (DBBL) signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations at the central bank's head office on Monday.Under this deal, the Bangladesh Bank will refinance DBBL against the loans made by the bank to small and medium enterprises located outside Dhaka and Chittagong Metropoliton areas under certain criteria. The amount of loans to each enterprise would range from Taka 50,000 to Taka 7 million. Md Harunur Rashid Choudhury, Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank, Md Mosaddiqur Rahman, Deputy Managing Director of DBBL, Mohammad Abu Kausar, Head of SME Division of DBBL and other high officials of both the organisations were present.

Source: The Daily Sun/15 Dec 2010

Janta Bank Limited started their new branch at Chinairbazar of sadar upazilla in Brahmanbaria. State Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Kamrul Islam inaugurated the new branch of the bank on last Sunday.

                                                                               Janata Bank's 861st Branch in B'Baria

Former personal secretary of Prime Minister RAM Obaidul Moktadir Choudhury, Deputy Commissioner Abdul Hannan, Superintendent of Police Mukhlesur Rahman, the directors and other high officials of the bank were present at the launching ceremony while CEO of the bank Aminur Rahman was presided.

With launching a new branch, Janata Bank has so far 861 branches across the country. 

Source: The Daily Sun/15 Dec 2010

Citibank, N.A. Bangladesh has recently decided to expand its collection and disbursement channel in Bangladesh. On this ocassion CitiBank, N.A. Bangladesh and Southeast Bank Limited signed an expanded correspondent banking agreement on Monday. The agreement will facilitate transactions of the valued clients of Citibank through all the branches of Southeast Bank Ltd across the country.

Parvez Murshed, Director, Global Transaction Services and, Syed Imtiaz Hasib, Deputy Managing Director of Southeast Bank Limited, Bangladesh signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organizations in presence of Md Gofran, Deputy Managing Director and Shahid Hossain, Deputy Managing Director of Southeast Bank Limited and Tawfiq Ali, Director, Financial Institutions Division, Citibank Bangladesh. Senior officials of both banks attended the program.

News Source: The Financial Express/15 Dec 2010

National Bank Ltd. (NBL) has issued fixed rate (11.0 per cent) subordinated bond worth of BDT 2.5 billion with a maturity period of seven years to increase its capital base in line with Basel-II framework. Standard Chartered Bank (StanChart) was the mandated lead arranger for this issue management that was placed privately for subscription after getting approval from Bangladesh Bank and the Securities Exchange Commission.

Director and Chairperson of the Executive committee of NBL Ms Parveen Haque Sikder was present as the chief guest at the closing ceremony of bond subscription at a city hotel Tuesday. StanChart CEO Jim McCabe and Managing Director of NBL Neaz Ahmed were also present.

"The bond has been fully subscribed by the investors, which is a sign of their confidence in National Bank", Mrs. Sikder said in the closing ceremony. The bond has been subscribed by investors from different segments including state-owned banks, private commercial banks, non-banking financial institutions and corporate houses. "Along with increasing the capital base of the bank, we have plan to invest the rest of the fund in industrial financing", Mr. Neaz Ahmed said, charting his plan of using the fund.

Highlighting its role in managing the bond issuance, CEO of StanChart Jim McCabe said, "This is the first ever subordinate bond issuance by NBL in Bangladesh and we're proud to be part of it". StanChart has been providing value-added services to financial institutions globally for years. The ceremony was attended by managing directors and senior officials of investor institutions.

News: The Financial Express/15 Dec 2010

bKash Ltd -- a joint venture company between BRAC Bank, Bangladesh, and Money in Motion LLC, USA -- signed an agreement with ShoreBank International, an international consulting firm, to provide financial services through an extensive network of community-based agents and existing technologies, including mobile phones.

Kamal Quadir, chief executive officer of bKash, and Jesse Fripp, vice president of ShoreBank, inked the deal, at a programme in Dhaka recently, says a statement.

Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, founder and chairperson of Brac, Muhammad A (Rumee) Ali, chairman of BRAC Bank and bKash, and Syed Mahbubur Rahman, BRAC Bank's managing director, were also present.

bKash will provide an electronic platform to increase the access to a broader range of financial services for both the people who use bank and who do not.

It has a special focus to serve the low-income people of the country and promote sustainable micro-savings to achieve broader financial inclusion by providing financial services that are convenient, affordable and reliable.

ShoreBank will strengthen the company's capacity with regard to strategic and operational planning, customer uptake, marketing, building the agent network, technology, and cash management -- all under the umbrella of promoting financial inclusion.

On November 16, ShoreBank announced that it has received a $10 million grant from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support this enterprise.

“bKash presents a compelling business plan which capitalises on a ripe economy to dramatically expand access to formal financial services, both as an extension of BRAC Bank and as a full-scale mobile phone-based payment switch," said Muhammad A (Rumee) Ali.

"This will highly benefit the country as 83 percent of the population lives under $2 a day and access to finance can help in improving their economic condition.”

Source: the daily star, Bangladesh/14th Dec 2010