Ahmed Shaheen has joined Prime Bank as deputy managing director, the bank said in a statement yesterday. Prior to joining, Shaheen served as senior executive vice president and area head of corporate banking for Dhaka, at Eastern Bank.
He brings more than two decades of experience in corporate banking, structured finance, international and offshore banking and trade services, according to the statement. Shaheen has significant contribution in structured trade finance and syndication financing in Bangladesh among local banks.  

The Bank of Japan held off further easing measures on Wednesday despite struggling to drag up flatlining inflation that is defying a massive stimulus launched two years ago.

The central bank stayed pat on its record easy money programme, which is adding about 80 trillion yen ($663 billion) to the money supply every year.

But economists said BoJ Governor Haruhiko Kuroda will have to boost the scheme, possibly later this month, in a further attempt to bring Japan closer to achieving two-percent inflation.

The BoJ's inflation target is a cornerstone of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's drive to conquer deflation and revive the long-sluggish economy.

After a two-day meeting, the BoJ said in a statement consumer inflation was likely to be about zero "for the time being" due to lower energy prices.

However, it added "inflation expectations appear to be rising on the whole from a somewhat longer-term perspective".

Kuroda told a press conference that the BoJ board expected price levels will start to rise later this year as general economic conditions improve.

"We believe the rise of the inflation rate will accelerate perhaps after the coming autumn, considering that expected inflation will likely rise over the long run, as the impact of the fall in energy prices diminishes, while the gap between supply and demand continues to improve," Kuroda said.

But he added that the bank stood ready to loosen monetary policy if necessary, recalling his surprise move in October that expanded the scheme earlier than expected.

The yen picked up on the news -- soon after the bank's statement the dollar was at 120.06 yen compared with 120.32 yen in New York on Tuesday.

The US currency slipped to 119.91 in late afternoon.

Kuroda's announcement prompted economists to strengthen their belief that the BoJ will expand the easing programme soon.

The BoJ is likely to lower its growth forecast for the year to March, as the Japanese economy seems to have slowed at the start of the year, said Capital Economics' Marcel Thieliant.

Jamuna Bank Training Academy (JBTA) arranged a training programme on "Credit Operation and Management" for credit officers recently. Shafiqul Alam, Managing Director of the bank inaugurated the programme as the chief guest. Ahamed Sufi, SVP and in-charge of JBTA were present at the programme. A total of 40 officers of the bank participated in the training.

Deputy Governor of Bangladesh Bank SK Sur Chowdury speaking at a workshop organised by Eastern Bank Ltd. (EBL) for its senior management on Corporate Governance in the city on Monday. Among others, Managing Director and CEO of EBL Ali Reza Iftekhar and Corporate Governance Specialist of IFC Lopa Rahman were present at the workshop.