Economic Reporter :A meeting of the committee for 'Strategic Planning and Policy Making' of National Bank Limited was held in its head office on Sunday. Various strategy plans were discussed and adopted to facilitate expansion of its business and services to greater areas. Compliance and financial discipline in its operations got utmost priority in the discussion while the bank is looking at significant enhancement of business and profit growth.Syed Mohammad Bariqullah presided over the meeting as chairman of the committee. A F M Shariful Islam, Managing Director (Current Charge), M A Wadud and A S M Bulbul, Deputy Managing Directors, Mohammad Nazrul Islam and Abdus Sobhan Khan, Senior Executive Vice Presidents, Ekramul Haque and Iftekhar Hossain Chowdhury, Executive Vice Presidents, Arun Kumar Halder, Md Moniruzzaman and Lt. Col. S M Sajjad Hossain (Retd.) Senior Vice Presidents of the bank were also present.

Economic Reporter :Md Shahjahan Shiraj, M Akhter Hossain and Abdul Aziz have recently been promoted to deputy managing directors of Shahjalal Islami Bank, said a news release. Prior to their promotion Md. Shahjahan Shiraj was Senior Executive Vice President (SEVP) & Head of Internal Control & Compliance Division, M. Akhter Hossain was SEVP & Head of International Division and Banking Operations Division and Abdul Aziz was SEVP & Manager of Dhaka Main Branch of Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited.Md Shahjahan Shiraj started his banking career as Probationary Officer at Pubali Bank Ltd. in 1987. Later on, he worked with Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd. & Export Import Bank of Bangladesh Ltd. (EXIM) under different capacities including Head of the Branches. He joined Shahjalal Islami Bank Ltd. in June, 2006 as Senior Vice President and mainly worked as Head of large Branches like Dhanmondi and Dhaka Main Branch of the Bank. He took the charge of Internal Control and Compliance Division at Head Office in October 2014 and also worked as Head of Central Customer Services and Complaint Management Cell. He completed his Hon's in Finance and Masters having 1st Class in Banking from University of Dhaka.M Akhter Hossain joined Shahjalal Islami Bank Ltd. in 2005 as Vice President. Hossain has more than 27 years of banking experience to his credit. He began his professional career in 1988 joining Agrani Bank Ltd. as a Senior Officer. Later on, he joined Mercantile Bank Ltd. in 2002 as Assistant Vice President. He successfully performed as Branch Manager of key Branches of Agrani Bank and Shahjalal Islami Bank, who has also extensive experience in Correspondent Banking, International Business, Treasury and other key banking areas. Hossain pursued MBA in Financial Management from University of Hull, England under the prestigious scholarship of Bank of England. Hossain, who holds a Masters degree in Accounting from the University of Dhaka, enriched his career attending training and workshops at home and abroad.Abdul Aziz started his career in 1986 through joining NCCBL as officer. Later on he worked in First Security Islami Bank Limited as AVP and joined at Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited as SAVP in 2005. In his 28 years long banking career he gathered vast knowledge on Branch Banking, Foreign Trade, Investment, Marketing as well as on IC&CD. He attended at various training related to his banking profession held in home and abroad. Mr. Abdul Aziz received his Masters degree in Management from the University of Dhaka and he also received LLB degree. He worked in Bangshal Branch and Foreign Exchange Branch of SJIBL and now he is engaged in Dhaka Main Branch as Branch Manager. Abdul Aziz was born in 1964 in a respectable Muslim family in Feni District.

The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) financial support for the Asian nations reached an all-time high of $27.15 billion in 2015, an increase of about 19 percent over the $22.89 billion supports in 2014, according to provisional figures of the lender.
The financial assistance included approvals of loans and grants, technical assistance, and cofinancing.
ADB’s approvals of loans and grants, sovereign (governments) and nonsovereign (primarily private sector), reached a record $16.58 billion—a 23 percent increase from 2014, while technical assistance amounted to $144 million and cofinancing increased by 13 percent to a record $10.43 billion in 2015, says an ADB release.  
Out of the $16.58 billion support, sovereign loan and grant approvals increased by 21 percent to $13.95 billion. Nonsovereign approvals made a big leap from $1.92 billion in 2014 to $2.63 billion last year.   
Meanwhile, total disbursements of loans and grants, seen as the key to creating profound impact on development, reached a record $12.34 billion, which was an increase of 21 percent over the previous year.
In addition to a volume increase, ADB increased its allocation to the poorest countries to 40 percnet of nonsovereign approvals, the Manila-based lender said.
To expedite small nonsovereign transactions, ADB introduced a fast-track approval process. ADB is now making active use of local currency lending to the private sector and increased bond issuances in local currencies to support the lending. 

Hassan O Rashid has recently been promoted to the post of additional managing director of Eastern Bank, the bank said in a statement yesterday.

Prior to the promotion, he has been serving the bank as deputy managing director since February 2013.

During his 25 years of banking career, Rashid worked with different local and multinational banks, including Credit Agricol Indosuez, HSBC, Standard Chartered Bank and Arab Bangladesh Bank. Rashid completed his graduation in economics and business administration from Capital University and masters in international management from Garvin School of Management, USA.

He also won the Wall Street Journal Student Achievement Award for his outstanding academic records.

Kazi Masihur Rahman has recently joined Mercantile Bank as managing director and chief executive officer, the bank said in a statement.

Prior to joining Mercantile, Rahman has been a consultant for BGB for establishing the proposed Shimanto Bank, according to the statement.

Rahman has 38 years of experience in the financial industry. He has also served Exim Bank as CEO and also worked with Prime Bank, BASIC Bank and Sonali Bank in Bangladesh and Mashreqbank, United Saudi Commercial Bank, Saudi Hollandi Bank, and ABN AMRO Bank internationally. He completed his masters in economics from Dhaka University.