Dhaka: Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited is providing special services this year to the visitors and the participating companies from home and abroad at Dhaka International Trade Fair, reports in press release.
The Bank officials at the pavilion are providing information to the visitors about different types of accounts, investments and services of the Bank. Visitors can open new account of any branch of the Bank, deposit and withdraw money from the Pavilion. The visitors can also open mCash mobile banking account.
A deposit machine (IDM) has been installed in a corner of the Pavilion for depositing money at any branch of the Bank. Businessmen in the fair can deposit the sales money to avoid the risk of carrying cash. Besides they can withdraw money from the ATM booth.
Islami Bank is working for sustainable development of the country. The bank conducts its investment operation giving priority of human need. The pavilion is decorated with five basic needs such as food, clothing, accommodation, treatment and education. A jute belt has been placed at the pavilion to revive the lost glory of the golden fiber in Bangladesh.
The pavilion has been decorated with pigeon, symbol of peace. A transparent bridge has connected the floating bridge. Fountain, handicrafts and photos of the toiling people of the rural Bangladesh has added aesthetic beauty of the pavilion.
Visitors throng to the pavilion for snapshots. The pavilion of Islami Bank was awarded for three consecutive years in different category.

Spillover effect of loan scams continues in the banking sector 

The country’s banking sector witnessed lowest return on assets in 10 years due to the rise in default loans.

Return on Asset (ROA) was declining since December 2010 from 1.8% to 0.6% in June 2014 thanks to maintaining higher provision against the bad assets, according to Bangladesh Bank monetary policy statement that announced on Thursday last for H2.

The banks, however, bagged highest return on assets above 1.5% during the year 2010 and 2011 when the private sector credit growth was also highest ever 24.2% and 25.8% respectively according to the Bangladesh Bank data.

The return on asset witnesses a sharp fall in the year 2012 as several loan scams took heavy toll on the banking sector.

Loans over Tk4,500 crore have been taken away from the banking sector through forgery by Hallmark and  Bismillah group between the year 2010 and 2012. Loan forgery of around Tk4,500 crore took place in BASIC Bank during the same period.

The spillover effect of the loan scams continued in the banking sector with eroding its earnings, said a senior executive of Bangladesh Bank.

The ROA increased to 0.9% in December 2013 mainly because of the temporary relaxation of loan rescheduling policy, according to the central bank monetary policy statement.

The required provision against bad debt for the year 2013 came down to Tk4,600 crore compared to Tk8,640 crore for 2012 thanks to huge loan rescheduling under the relaxed policy that was given from December 2013 to June 2014.

The earning ratio declined again to 0.6% at the end of June 2014 due to further increased amount of default loans and the net losses made by state-owned commercial banks, said the statement.

The private sector credit growth also remained in slower pace ranged between 10% and 12% during last one and a half year.

The return on asset of the state-owned commercial banks, including Sonali, Janata, Agrani and Rupali became negative in June 2014 from 0.6% in the year 2013, according to the central bank data.

The return of these four banks grew consistently since the year 2008 and reached to the highest 1.4% in the year 2011. Later, it turned negative in the year 2012 due to the huge corruption in loan disbursement.

The banks showed artificial return of 0.6% in the financial statement of the year 2013 through regularising huge amount of default loans under relaxed policy. But it did not sustain as clients fail to continue installment amid political unrest. As a result, the ratio of return again turned to negative in June last year.

The default loan rate also pushed the capital adequacy ratio of banking sector down to 10.6% at the end of September last year from 11.5% in December 2013. The private commercial bank though successfully maintaining the CAR standard of 10% since December 2010 but the state-owned commercial banks are still struggling to fulfill the regulatory requirements.

The rise of default loans continued during the first three quarter of 2014 because of the implementation of the new guideline for loan classification and rescheduling, Bangladesh Bank explained in its monetary policy stance.

In addition, the lack of profitability due to the uncertainties emanating from political factors contributed to this increased volume of default loans, said the policy. 

Chairman of Rupali Bank Amalendu Mukharjee, managing director M Farid Uddin and other high officials of the bank Sunday greeted the Governor of Bangladesh Bank Dr Atiur Rahman on winning the 'Best Governor' award in the Asia-Pacific zone by a prestigious publication of London-based Financial Times. The Governor also greeted the Rupali Bank on winning First Division Women's Cricket League, 2014-2015.

                                                                  Md. Ehsan Khasru

Mr. Md. Ehsan Khasru joined The Premier bank Limited as Adviser recently. Prior to his joining Premier Bank Limited he was the Managing Director of Prime Bank Limited since 15 September, 2011 to 2014. Before joining Prime Bank Limited, he was Additional Managing Director of The City Bank Ltd.

 In his long 30 years banking career, he has held various responsible management positions in Credit Risk Management, Risk Management, Credit Administration and Relationship Management. Mr. Khasru started his illustrious banking career in 1983 as a Probationary Officer in National Bank Ltd. In 1985, he joined National Credit and Commerce Bank Ltd. After serving eight years, he moved to American Express Bank in the Marketing Manager (Relationship) as Business & Corporate Banking Division and served there till 1999.

Later on, in 2000, he went abroad and worked for Royal Bank of Canada and Bank of Montreal as a Senior Manager (Relationship) and Financial Services Manager respectively till 2007.

Mr. Khasru returned to Bangladesh in 2007 and joined Eastern Bank Limited as Head of Credit Risk Management andIn 2008, he joined The City Bank Ltd, where he was promoted as Additional Managing Director.

                                                                Khondker Fazle Rashid

New MD of Premier Bank

Khondker Fazle Rashid has joined The Premier Bank Limited as Managing Director Sunday. Prior to this he served The Premier Bank Limited as Advisor for the period June, 2014 to January, 2015. He also worked for Dhaka Bank Limited as its Managing Director for two terms consecutively during 2009-2014. Mr. Rashid, a professional banker and an MBA from IBA, Dhaka University started his banking career in Sonali Bank as Probationary Officer (NG -V) in 1978. He joined Arab Bangladesh Bank Ltd in 1982 and worked up to 1999 in different branches/divisions in senior level/management positions in home and abroad. He also worked as Senior Executive Vice President & Head of Credit Division of southeast Bank Limited during the period 2000-2003. His banking excellence has added new dimension to productivity, efficiency & quality of the banks he has worked with.