Staff Reporter :Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman chaired 'Commonwealth Central Bank Governors' Meeting' on 'Impact of de-risking, de-banking on financial inclusion and remittances' held in Lima, Peru on October 6.BB Governor Dr. Rahman chaired the meeting on the adverse impacts of recent trends in some remittance source countries of de-banking many low cost Money Services Business (MSBs) channeling remittances of low wage foreign workers to their families in low income home countries. He said the sustained initiatives taken by the BB in the recent past to place a strong Financial Intelligent Unit (FIU) and a rigorous AML CFT regimes complemented by massive modernization of the country's payment system and financial sector IT infrastructure making possible advent and rapid growth of online, mobile phone and smart card based financial transfers that can be tracked all the way from source to destination.These sustained efforts have resulted in Bangladesh being entirely free of any drug or terrorism related Financial Action Task Force (FATF) concerns, but that has not kept MSBs channeling remittances to Bangladesh immune from de-banking trends in advanced economy source countries causing remittance growth from these countries to be slower and more volatile, the central bank chief explained.The contents of the meeting discussion evidenced that it is not the FATF led AML CFT standards as such, but the disproportionately harsh supervisory treatment of banks in overzealous, overbearing approaches in implementation thereof in a few advanced economy jurisdictions are what have spawned the 'de-risking by de-banking' tendencies in major banks in these jurisdictions, the BB governor added.He also advised to convene the Commonwealth Secretariat to sponsor a few sessions of intensive discussion engagements between the concerned financial supervisory authorities for quickest possible resolution of the issues involved.Mr. Deodat Maharaj, Deputy Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, welcomed the participants of the meeting and the keynote address was given by Juan Manual Vega Serrano, Vice President of the FATF. The Governors of the central banks from more than 15 countries participated at the meeting.

Staff Reporter :Dutch Bangla Bank Ltd has launched VISA Platinum Credit Card on Wednesday at its head office, says a press release.The platinum card offers the cardholders to earn reward points on all purchases made on the card, said K S Tabrez, Managing Director of DBBL.It also offers the free priority pass membership providing access to the 700+ Airport lounges (including Balaka VIP lounge, Dhaka) for 04 (four) complimentary visits in a year. The Cardholder will also get FREE 2 Factor Authentication Hardware Token for secured e-commerce transactions and power bank for mobile phone charging as a token of gift. The Platinum Cardholder will also enjoy exclusive offers and discounts at 200+ renowned partner merchant outlets.The card launching ceremony was also present among others by Seshadri Kulkarni, Head of Acceptance, VISA India and South Asia and Amitoj Sawhney, Director Business Development of VISA South Asia.

Md Nazmus Salehin, Managing Director of Standard Bank Limited poses with the participants of a 2-day long workshop on \"Special Deposit Banking: School Banking and Inclusive Banking\" at its Training Institute. Md Zakaria, Principal and Md Amzad Hossain F

Bangladesh Bank is going to arrange a banking fair next month to create awareness among people on banking and financial issues and services. The five-day fair will begin on November 24 at Bangla Academy.

Commercial banks and non-bank financial institutions will help the central bank organise the country's first banking fair, Biru Paksha Paul, chief economist of Bangladesh Bank, said at a press conference at the central bank yesterday. AFM Asaduzzaman, general manager of the central bank's Governor's Secretariat, also spoke.

Muhammed Ali, Managing Director of United Commercial Bank Limited, handing over the computers to Hossain Ahmed, Principal of Banshkhali Girls\' College at the college auditorium recently. Md Abdul Jabbar Chowdhury, Deputy Managing Director of the bank and