Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman speaks at a meeting with chief executive officers of non-bank financial institutions at the central bank headquarters in Dhaka yesterday.

The Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of non-bank financial institutions yesterday urged Bangladesh Bank to protect their job and empower them in protesting alleged irregularities being committed by the directors.

They came up with the demand at CEO’s meeting with Bangladesh Bank held at its headquarters in the city.

The demand was raised in the backdrop of serious irregularities committed by the directors of the financial institutions.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman presided over the meeting while its high officials and Managing Directors and CEOs of all the financial institutions were present.

“We could not stop the interference of the directors in loan disbursement activities as we are not in a secured position as yet to raise our voices,” said Asad Khan, managing director of Prime Finance and Investment Limited.

As the termination procedures of the CEOs are easy now, it is difficult for them to protest any irregularity committed by any director, he told the reporters after the meeting.

He observed that not only the Bangladesh Bank’s protection but also the CEO’s responsibility are equally needed for stopping all sorts of corruption in loan disbursement by the directors. He also demanded the protection for the CEOs of the non-bank financial institutions as like as Bangladesh Bank had earlier given the same protection to the CEOs of the commercial banks.

Earlier in December last year, Bangladesh Bank had issued a circular asking the bank’s board not to force the managing directors to resign.

The central bank issued the circular mainly to protect the MDs job and empower them in protesting irregularities by directors.

As recently, some MDs have lost their job under board pressure in some banks. In this perspective, they had urged the central bank to issue a guideline to protect their jobs so they could raise their voice in case of wrongdoing by the board of directors.

“Bangladesh Bank investigation found different types of irregularities including loan sanction against fake accounts, divert these loans to another sectors, showing the classified loans as unclassified and approve loans beyond the single borrower exposure limit into the non bank financial institutions,” said Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor SK Sur Chowdhury.

Some financial institution’s directors have been found in a tendency to violate the banking rules. In some cases, directors, who are not in existing board, have also been detected in taking policy decision attending the board meeting, which is a serious violation of rules, Sur told the reporters.

He said, “CEOs of NBFIs have also been found in involvement with these irregularities and we have already removed some of the directors and CEOs over the allegation of committing irregularities”.

Despite severe warning and taking punitive action by Bangladesh Bank some financial institutions are still busy in doing irregularities by hiding information, he observed.

“Bangladesh Bank will show zero tolerance if it finds any anomalies in its investigation which is underway,” he warned. 

Asia-focused Standard Chartered bank said Wednesday net profit fell 37 percent in 2014, the second consecutive year of decline, almost a week after announcing two of its top bosses would leave in a reshuffle aimed at transforming its fortunes.

The troubled British lender said net profit came in at $2.51 billion for the year, down from $3.99 billion in 2013 and described the result as "disappointing".

The bank said Thursday chief executive Peter Sands will step down in June followed by chairman John Peace next year, in a radical management reshuffle to stem a growth slowdown.

In a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange, Peace said "2014 was a challenging year, and our performance was disappointing" but added that the bank took "decisive action" last year to reposition itself for the future.

Operating income fell two percent year-on-year to $18.23 billion while profit before tax stood at $5.19 billion down 25 percent from 2013. "We faced a perfect storm," Sands said in the statement underlining negative sentiment to emerging markets, a sharp drop in commodity prices and a welter of regulatory challenges.

"Some of the decisions we took in the past look less good now than they did at the time, such as Korea, which in 2014 made a loss before tax of $145 million," he said.

"It is obviously one of the more challenging sets of numbers I have had to explain," said Sands, who has worked at the bank for 13 years.

Former JPMorgan investment bank head Bill Winters will replace Sands, which had issued three profit warnings over the past 12 months that had sparked shareholder calls for a boardroom cull.

1100 NCR ATMs to be installed within next one yr

Managing Director of DBBL K.S Tabrez and Managing Director of Technomedia Limited Joshoda Jibon Deb Nath exchanging documents in the signing ceremony of the agreement under which Technomedia Limited will supply 1100 NCR ATMs. Deputy Managing Director of DBBL Abul Kashem Md. Shirin and COO of Technomedia Khorshed Alam also attended the programme held Monday.

The Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited (DBBL) has moved to install 1,100 more ATM booths in different locations of the country within March of next year.

The bank, already having the largest network of Automated Teller Machine (ATM) across the country, will set up the new ATM booths in phases.

To purchase and set up the new ATMs, the DBBL signed an agreement with Technomedia Limited (TML), a local ICT company, at the DBBL head office in the city Monday.

With the latest agreement, Technomedia Limited will be able to supply a total of 3700 NCR ATMs to the DBBL.

The DBBL took the move to set up such a big number of ATMs only one and half months after the Bangladesh Bank (BB) relieved the banks from taking its prior permission to install new ATM.

Under the Monday's deal, the TML will supply 1,000 ATM booths of NCR brand at the cost of Tk 400 million; additionally, 100 units of ATM will be supplied at free of cost, sources said.

TML is a local agent of NCR Corporation, a US-based computer hardware, software and electronics company.

"In order to carry out its banking business more efficiently and conveniently, DBBL intends to procure NCR ATMs to install at its different branches and other suitable locations in the country."

Some 200 ATMs, along with proportionate 20 units of free ATMs, will be installed in the first phase while rest of the ATMs will be supplied within two years of issuance of DBBL's work order in phases, as per the deal.

All the shipments will be made from Hungary, the agreement noted.

The TML will give comprehensive warranty of one year that will begin from date of delivery of goods at the DBBL warehouse.

After the warranty, the period of annual maintenance contract (AMC) will start under a service level agreement (SLA) between the two companies.

Under another deal with DBBL, TML has installed a total of 573 units of NCR ATM and 573 units of cash deposit machines (CDM) under the buy-back policy with Diebold ATMs.

TML supplies NCR ATMs and MICR cheques to some 22 banks and financial institutions.

Afp, London

Chief executives seek protection against wilful sacking

The central bank yesterday warned the chief executives of non-bank financial institutions not to act irresponsibly and indulge in irregularities.

“We have observed that some NBFIs still indulge in irregularities despite our caution. We are investigating those allegations and if any NBFI is found guilty of wrongdoing, we will take tough action against it and its CEO,” Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman said at a quarterly meeting with the CEOs at the central bank headquarters.

Rahman reminded the CEOs that the central bank has already removed a chairman, some directors and a chief executive of an NBFI for their wrongdoings. Another CEO has also been fined for giving wrong information to the central bank, he added.

The central bank found that the non-banks are lending to directors, violating rules and regulations; paying attendance honorarium to their directors even if they were absent in meetings, and organising executive committee meetings without any important agenda.

SK Sur Chowdhury, deputy governor of BB, said the CEOs have promised the central bank that there will be no irregularities in the future.

On the other hand, the chief executives sought the central bank's protection so that their board of directors cannot remove or suspend them without prior approval from BB. They said the central bank has protected the CEOs of banks through a notice issued in December last year.

“The nature of work of a bank CEO and an NBFI CEO is almost the same; the regulator is also the same. If a bank CEO is protected by Bangladesh Bank, why not us?” Asad Khan, president of Bangladesh Leasing and Finance Companies Association, told reporters after the meeting.

“Otherwise, the CEOs of NBFIs won't be able to stand against the unlawful demands of directors,” said Khan, also the chief executive of Prime Finance.

Meanwhile, other issues like the development of the bond market, a road map for strengthening non-banks and removal of regulatory barriers for them were also discussed at the meeting. The deputy governor, who briefed reporters on the outcomes of the meeting, said the central bank wants the NBFIs to become active in the bond market.

“So far, only three NBFIs have appeared in the bond market; we want others to follow.”

Chowdhury said the non-banks have demanded a tax rebate, for which, the BB governor will write to the revenue board.

The non-banks submitted a number of proposals at the meeting, including exclusion of the loan exposure with NBFIs' own subsidiaries or associate companies from the list of top 10 borrowers, separating each component from the CAMELS rating, refinancing facility for SMEs based on a client's individual criteria. They also demanded deadline extension to adjust loan exposure with their subsidiary companies. The NBFIs also proposed to calculate nonperforming loans on a net basis, not gross.