Entrepreneurs can now apply for funds to help meet the cost of implementing energy efficiency measures, as the central bank plans to launch green business financing.

“Fund worth $500m will be dedicated to green textiles,” said Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman at a seminar in the city yesterday.

“This will be an incremental fund like Export Development Fund (EDF), which now stands at $1.5bn,” he said. 

In 1989, Bangladesh Bank launched the EDF with an initial fund of over $31m to promote exports, with cheaper rates of interest.  

The announcement of launching a green fund came in response to recommendations given by experts and entrepreneurs at the "Access to Finance—Environmental Sustainability in the Textiles Sector" seminar, jointly organised by the Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh (PRI) and International Finance Corporation.  

PRI Executive Director Ahsan H Mansur chaired the seminar, attended by experts, entrepreneurs, lenders, and government officials.

The central bank chief put emphasis on branding the textile industry and other industries, saying the timing of the fund's launch is critical right now, as the global demand for environment-friendly goods are on the rise.

To popularise environment-friendly technology adoption, he said similar steps, such as setting up apps for female entrepreneurs, will be taken so that information related to green financing can be available.

Describing different measures already taken by the central bank, Atiur said Bangladesh Bank has so far identified 47 green products under the refinance scheme with the addition of three new products, including in the garment sector.

All financial institutions have also been directed to allocate at least 5% of their loan to green finance by 2016, he added.

BB governor urged the government to allocate the fund in the next national budget for green financing so that the central bank can lend at lower interest rates. 

The central bank has been working with many development partners and some regulatory bodies in green financing, he said.

He suggested the stock market be used for another source of green financing. 

“I think the securities regulator may allow some of the small companies to go public for raising funds from the stock market for green financing.”

Professor Mustafizur Rahman said some fiscal measures can be taken to encourage environmentally-friendly products and to discourage harmful products.

“For example, India is rising in the ready-made garment sector. If you look at their budget in the fiscal year, which began in April last year, there was a conscious policy to project India as an environmental friendly ready-made garment producer,” Atiur noted.

He said: “We have enough institutional mechanisms and financial resources, but I think we need to calibrate the policies in order to help this particular sector.”

He said energy efficiency leads to higher productivity, and higher productivity leads to higher profits. “If this circle is ensured, then obviously it will be sustainable.”

Former BGMEA vice president Faruque Hassan said the import of machinery, to be used in environmental-friendly initiatives, should be tax-free.

CEO of Standard Chartered Bank Abrar A Anwar said financing will not be available unless entrepreneurs are not responsible in green financing projects. 

According to the keynote paper presented by Ahsan H Mansur, the textile sector in Dhaka currently consumes 1,500bn litres of groundwater annually to produce 5m tonnes of fabric (300 litres per kg fabric). The global standard is well below 100 litres per kg of fabric.  

Entrepreneurs and textile experts also suggested cleaner production is a preventive, company-specific initiative intended to minimise the use of inputs, such as energy, water, and raw materials, reduce waste and emission, and maximise outputs.

Barriers like lack of awareness and mindsets were also identified against using green technology in apparel industries for green products at the seminar. 

AFP, WASHINGTON: A sophisticated global cyberattack struck more than 100 banks in 30 countries stealing hundreds of millions of dollars, The New York Times reported Saturday.
Citing a soon to be released report from computer security company Kaspersky Lab, the newspaper said the attack involved malicious software that gave hackers long-term access to banking systems. A group of Russians, Chinese and Europeans was able to siphon off around $300 million in one of the world's largest bank robberies, the report said. 
The money was transferred to bank accounts around the world in small-value amounts to avoid detection.
Hackers largely focused on banks in Russia, but millions of dollars were also taken from banks in Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United States as well, the Times said.
Hackers had such advanced access to the banks' systems that they could force ATM machines to dispense cash at specific times and locations where hackers could pick it up.

The central bank will set aside $500 million of low-cost funds for textile factories to help them adopt eco-friendly technologies and practices, Governor Atiur Rahman said yesterday.

The money will come in addition to the existing export development fund (EDF) of $1.5 billion and will be named Green EDF, he told a discussion at the office of Policy Research Institute of Bangladesh in Dhaka.

PRI organised the discussion on "access to finance: environmental sustainability in the textile sector" in association with the International Finance Corporation.  

Rahman came up with the decision instantly after a number of bankers and economists stressed the need for such a fund for the textile sector.

At present, Bangladesh Bank is offering the EDF to exporters at a rate of LIBOR (London Interbank Offered Rate) plus 2.5 percent for six months. An exporter can borrow a maximum of $15 million in foreign currency.

"The criteria for accessing the fund by the wet processing units, which are also export-oriented or providing supplies to the garment sector, should be considered in view of the overall sustainability of the textile sector," said Ahsan H Mansur, executive director of PRI.

At the seminar, he presented a paper, which he prepared in association with Ifty Islam, managing partner of AT Capital.

Mansur said inefficient resource use and poor environmental practices are major challenges for the textile sector. The textile factories in Dhaka currently consume 1,500 billion litres of groundwater annually to produce five million tonnes of fabric, with every kg of fabric gobbling up 300 litres against the global standard of 100 litres per kg of fabric.

Mansur said making funds available does not guarantee that entrepreneurs would use the resources.

"Education and awareness is important. Besides, customs and supplementary duties should be eliminated for importing cleaner technology equipment and machinery."

The BB governor said the country's garment sector would not be able to reach the $50 billion export target by 2021 without adopting green technologies.

Rahman called for a separate allocation in the budget to promote green financing in the textile sector. "Budgetary allocation makes it possible to provide low-cost funds."

The BB chief said the progress in the textile sector has also brought in multiple challenges in urban expansion, land use, workplace safety and environmental safeguards.

For example, textile dyeing and finishing units in Bangladesh are known to be hugely wasteful in water usage as they consume five times the best practice benchmark.

The toxic discharges of the industry pollute both surface and ground water which has serious consequences for all living beings.

"Long-term sustainability of the industry greatly lies in its ability to produce green textile products mainly due to growing consumer demand for eco-friendly products," the governor said.

Rahman also said a green development policy should be incorporated into the next five-year plan of the country. 

Mohammed Abdul Jabbar, managing director of DBL Group, said with an initial investment of $100,000, his company was able to reduce wastage of water, energy, steam, dye and chemical worth $500,000 within a year. "So, it is a matter of mindset. It is not a big deal."

Mustafizur Rahman, executive director of Centre for Policy Dialogue, said environmental sustainability is very important for the country's mid- and long-term development.

"The country will be able to raise its garment exports to $50 billion by 2021 if the factories are eco-friendly."

Ifty Islam said environmental sustainability has become a central point of China's five-year plan although the country is infamous for environmental pollution. "We will have to do the same."

Faruque Hassan, a former vice president of Bangladesh Garment Manu-facturers and Exporters Association, said the factories need financial support from the government and price support from buyers to go for eco-friendly practices. 

Abrar Anwar, chief executive officer of Standard Chartered Bangladesh, said financing would not be available for factories if they are not eco-friendly.

Mamun Rashid, chairman of Financial Excellence Ltd, and Mrinal Sircar, programme manager of Bangladesh Water PaCT, also spoke.

HSBC published a full-page letter in British newspapers on Sunday to offer its "sincerest apologies" for past practices at its Swiss private bank, which has been accused of helping clients to evade tax.

Europe's biggest bank admitted failings in compliance and controls in its Swiss operation after media reports that said it had helped wealthy customers to conceal millions of dollars of assets up to 2007.

Britain's Treasury Committee has called the bank's chairman and chief executive to give evidence on the matter on Feb. 25, according to a memo seen by Reuters on Friday.

The bank's letter published in a number of newspapers on Sunday was signed by Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver and said that the reports had been a "painful experience" for its customers, shareholders and employees.

"We must show we understand that the societies we serve expect more from us," Gulliver wrote. "We therefore offer our sincerest apologies."

The bank said that the vast majority of the 140 people named in reports as customers of its Swiss bank had left and that it has since established much tighter controls on who it accepts as customers.

"We have absolutely no appetite to do business with clients who are evading their taxes or who fail to meet our financial crime compliance standards," he said.

The fallout from the claims caused the bank's former boss Stephen Green to step down at financial services lobby group TheCityUK on Saturday.

Its default loans rose in every quarter of 2014                                            

Despite various efforts, including wholesale management changes and rescheduling, default loans at scam-hit BASIC Bank rose in every quarter of 2014.

“The bank is still suffering from the after-effects of serious scams,” said a senior official of the finance ministry's banking division.

The new board, which took over in July last year, has taken various initiatives to bring down the default loans. “But it won't come down overnight -- it will be a long and painful process.”

In the last quarter, default loans crept up 3.83 percent, but the increment was way less than in the preceding three quarters, when it rose 99 percent, 79 percent and 34 percent successively.

On December 31, 2014, the state-run commercial bank had bad loans of Tk 6,384 crore, which was 53.48 percent of its total loan portfolio -- the highest in the banking sector in terms of proportion. Its operating loss for 2014 stood at Tk 50 crore.

Meanwhile, a BASIC board member said the new management has aggressively moved to realise the classified loans from the bank's top 100 defaulters, who account for 86 percent of the total bad loans, as well as restore consumer confidence in the bank.

They managed cash recovery of Tk 126 crore against the default loans and another Tk 9.51 crore from writing off bad loans.

Just three of BASIC's 68 branches -- Gulshan, Shantinagar and Dilkusha -- account for 80 percent of the classified loans and the recovery there remains woeful.

Gulshan branch had Tk 2,395 crore of default loans -- which is 73 percent of its total loan portfolio -- of which only Tk 26 crore was recovered last year.

Shantinagar branch's 64 percent of the loans were defaults; it managed to recover only Tk 8 crore of Tk 1,763 crore bad loans.

Dilkusha branch's defaults stood at Tk 905 crore, which is 60 percent of its total loans. It realised around Tk 41 crore.

However, after the new management took over, deposits, a pillar of the banking business, grew 6.41 percent.

Every official of its 68 branches has been given an individual target for deposit collection, said a senior official of BASIC Bank.

Historically a well-run bank, BASIC Bank's woes started when the Awami League government came to power in 2009 and appointed Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu as its chairman.

Under his influence, the bank indulged in all sorts of irregularities, which come to the fore in 2012 after a central bank investigation. Subsequently, the chief executive was removed and the board dissolved.