bangladesh-bank has doubled the credit card limit and extended the personal loan ceiling to support investment growth by stimulating consumption in the economy.

The new credit card limit has been set at Tk 10 lakh, taking it up a notch from Tk 5 lakh earlier, according to a circular issued by Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday.

The banks can provide an additional Tk 10 lakh limit for credit cards, but it cannot exceed Tk 25 lakh. The excess credit will have to be backed by liquid securities, like fixed deposits or foreign currency accounts maintained with the respective bank.

The personal loan limit has been increased to Tk 5 lakh without any securities, from Tk 3 lakh previously. Banks may lend more if the loan is backed by liquid securities, but it cannot exceed Tk 20 lakh under any circumstance.

Earlier, banks were allowed to lend up to Tk 10 lakh in excess of the limit.

At the same time, banks' consumer financing growth rate must not exceed total loan growth, according to the notice.

The bank credit limits have been revised considering the rapid growth of the consumer product market and rise of per capita income – a move appreciated by market players and financial digitisation advocates.

The decision has rationality in terms of reducing cash, checking transactions and promoting digital transactions, said Salehuddin Ahmed, former central bank governor.

The increased credit ceiling will create more demand in the market, which will support investment growth, he said.

The growing consumer loans may increase inflation but if supply of goods meets demand, then the inflation risks will be minimised, he added.

A hike in credit limit was anticipated as the use of credit cards is much lower in Bangladesh, in comparison to neighbouring India, said Biru Paksha Paul, former chief economist of Bangladesh Bank.

Consumption is the largest component of domestic output and the government's job is to stimulate it, he added.

Moreover, investment growth in terms of GDP remained slow. The higher consumption will encourage investment, he said.

A growth in consumer loans will absorb the excess liquidity, which is a headache for the banking sector at the moment, he added. The raised credit card limit will develop a habit of spending among consumers, said Mohammed Nurul Amin, managing director of Meghna Bank. Higher spending power will increase production and employment in the economy, he added.

The weighted average interest rate on consumer financing was 9.68 percent as of February, down from the overall lending rate of 9.77 percent, according to Bangladesh Bank data. Total loans under consumer financing stood at Tk 52,467 crore as of July-September last year, which was 8.39 percent of total loans in the industry. 

News: Daily Star/6-apr-2017

Economic Reporter :Bangladesh Bank (BB) has asked all banks to follow the updated guidelines for internal control and compliance risk management.The central bank in a press release on Tuesday said the guidelines, prepared in 2003 and updated last month on the basis of the recommendations from all stakeholders, would be available on its website.In the guidelines, BB said as banking is a diversified and multifarious financial activity which involves different risks, the issues of an effective internal control system, good governance, transparency of all financial activities, and accountability towards its stakeholders and regulators have become momentous to ensure smooth performance of the banking industry.It further said that an effective internal control and compliance system has become essential in order to underpin effective risk management practices and to ensure smooth performance of the banking industry.

Aminul Islam, Managing Director (CC) of Bank Asia, presenting \'Uttario\" to Dr Atiur Rahman, Governor of Bangladesh Bank at the closing ceremony of CAMLCO Conference\'2016 at Habigonj recently.

BB mulls ways to retrieve $81m laundered to the Philippines

It may take several years for Bangladesh Bank to recover the fund stolen from its account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York by hackers last month and laundered to the Philippines, a central bank official said yesterday.

“The recovery process is complex and lengthy. It may take 5 to 13 years to get back the money that was hacked from our account,” said the BB official, citing examples of similar cases.

He said it took around four years for Bangladesh to recover laundered money worth over Tk 13 crore, which was deposited in Singapore by Arafat Rahman Koko, son of former Prime Minister and BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia. Bangladesh began a legal process to recover the money in March 2009 and finally got it back in November 2012.

In the latest case, the BB lost a total of $101 million from its account in the US early last month. Of the amount, $20 million has already been recovered from Sri Lanka that acted promptly to identify and helped recover the money.

However, the remaining $81 million of the money hacked, which was laundered to the Philippines, remained untraced.

Investigators in the Philippines found that in the series of incidents, the money was brought into the country's banking system, sold to a black market foreign exchange broker, transferred to at least three large local casinos, sold back to the money broker, and moved out to overseas accounts – all in a few days.

According to the BB, the court's permission is required to freeze an account in the Philippines. If the account does not have adequate money in the account, the court will issue an order to freeze other assets of the culprits.

Next, the court will have to order an investigation into the matter before giving its verdict on the money laundered.

Bangladesh also has to go through a lengthy legal process to recover the money.

“First, we have to file a case under the cyber crime law, then, an investigation will begin. On the verdict of the case, we have to send documents to the Philippines through our Attorney General's Office,” said the BB official.

According to the central bank, this laundered money can be recovered through the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative, which is a partnership between the World Bank Group and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime that supports international efforts to end safe havens for corrupt funds.

“We are already in talks with the WB officials on the issue,” said another BB official dealing with the matter.   

Central bank officials say most of the money is in the Philippines, a small portion recovered from Sri Lanka; culprits identified

Bangladesh Bank has identified the people involved in the hacking of around $100 million (Tk 780 crore) from its foreign currency account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, claim BB officials.

Almost the entire amount was transferred online to the Philippines banking system and a small portion of it to Sri Lanka by suspected Chinese hackers on February 5, they said.

The incident took place at a time when Bangladesh's banking system is trying to recover from the recent ATM and credit card fraud.

A senior BB official told The Daily Star yesterday that a small portion of the stolen money has already been recovered from Sri Lanka. But the money, which is in the Philippines, is yet to be recovered.

“We are dealing with the issue. Those who were behind the hacking have been identified,” said the official.

The BB has around $28 billion in foreign currency reserve. Nearly one-third of the reserve is in the form of liquid assets with the Federal Reserve Bank in the US and the Bank of England. The rest is invested in bonds and gold.

In a statement yesterday, the BB said it has been able to recover a portion of the stolen money. But it did not mention the amount.

“Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) is working with the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) of the Philippines to recover the money from there,” it said.

The AMLC filed a case in this regard in the Philippines, and received a court order to freeze the accounts of those involved in laundering the stolen money.

Wishing anonymity, a deputy governor of the BB, said the Federal Reserve Bank of New York failed to do due diligence in dealing with the hacking threat.

However, the Federal Reserve Bank denied that its payments systems were breached, reports Reuters.

"To date, there is no evidence of any attempt to penetrate Federal Reserve systems in connection with the payments in question, and there is no evidence that any Fed systems were compromised," said New York Fed spokeswoman Andrea Priest in response to queries about the claim.

Talking to reporters on the matter yesterday, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said it is a “very unusual situation”.

“I cannot make any statement as I was not informed by the central bank about it. I just saw the news in the media,” Muhith said after a meeting with the newly appointed country director of the World Bank in Dhaka.

According to BB officials, hackers stole the money from a BB account with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York on February 5. Soon after the BB came to know about the hacking, it started working on the issue secretly so that the matter doesn't go public.

But the issue came to the fore after inquirer.net, a leading news website in the Philippines, revealed that the funds laundered were of a financial institution in Bangladesh.

Now the financial regulator of the Philippines is investigating what could be the biggest money laundering case ever detected in the country.

Investigators in the Philippines found that computer hackers stole around $100 million which was brought into the country's banking system. It was sold to a black market foreign exchange broker, transferred to at least three large local casinos, sold back to the money broker, and moved out to overseas accounts -- all in a few days.

“We are confident of recovering the funds as it was channelled into the Philippines financial system,” said a senior BFIU official.

“Two of our officials recently visited the Philippines to hold talks on the issue,” added the official.

According to BB officials, this laundered money can be recovered through the Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR), a partnership between the World Bank Group and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which supports international efforts to end safe havens for corrupt funds.

StAR works with developing countries and financial centres to prevent the laundering of the proceeds of corruption and to facilitate more systematic and timely return of stolen assets.