Bangladesh Bank (BB) has decided to allow more time for repayment of large loan by the borrowers who are unable to pay back their loans due to "unavoidable circumstances", reports BSS. The decision was taken on Tuesday at the board meeting of BB, held at its headquarters with Governor Dr Atiur Rahman in the chair. The meeting also decided that the loan repayment policy would be restructured so the borrowers of the large loans can get the time extension for repayment. The official said the large loan defaulters would get the time extension with submitting application to BB by June this year through their respective banks. He, however, said the central bank would issue a circular on Wednesday to detail about the restructured loan repayment policy. The central bank took the decision considering difficulties faced by the banks and the business community due to the ongoing blockade and repeated hartals by the BNP-Jamaat alliance, the official said.

Eastern Bank Ltd. (EBL), a leading issuer of debit and credit cards in Bangladesh, has introduced smart card to make authentication more secure and minimizing risks of fraud. A micro processor chip is embedded in the card, which will make it more secured and personalised. This EMV 'Chip and PIN' card will replace present magnetic stripe cards, says a press release. EBL teamed up with X INFOTECH, a leading systems integrator and MultiPerso personalization software developer to implement the smart card. MultiPerso solution, provided by X INFOTECH's includes features like - chip data preparation, secure card personalization, card instant issuing, as well as complex integration service. MultiPerso solution also provides complete support for personalization of MasterCard and VISA EMV cards. Commenting on the new cards Nazeem A. Choudhury, Head of Consumer Banking of EBL said, "We hope to benefit from worldwide experience and technological expertise of X INFOTECH. This cooperation will enable us to respond better to our clients' specific needs and offer them enhanced services". Sergei Yeliseyev, Member of the Board at X INFOTECH in his remarks said "This partnership will strengthen X INFOTECHs' presence in Asian region and reinforce spreading of new technologies in the region, as well as improve bank's credibility and reputation in terms of secure payment".

The securities regulator has made the submission of application for IPO (initial public offering) shares through merchant banks and brokerage firms mandatory from April 1 this year instead of applying through banks.

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) Tuesday took the decision while approving the revised IPO application process.

At Tuesday's meeting, the securities regulator has also approved the conversion of ICB AMCL Islamic Mutual Fund (MF), a closed-end MF,  into open-end scheme--ICB AMCL Islamic Unit Fund.

Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) started to receive IPO applications through merchant banks and merchant banks on the basis of pilot project from July 15, 2011.

From April 1 next no application for IPO shares will be received by banks.

For completing the investors' IPO application process, merchant bankers and stock brokers will charge Tk 5.0 per application and the service charge will have to be paid by applicants while submitting application.

For the purpose of new IPO application process, the merchant bankers and stock brokers will have to maintain separate bank account namely 'Public Issue Application Account'.

Within the subscription period, the applicants, other than NRBs and foreign applicants, will submit application/instruction for the public issue of the securities to stock broker and merchant banker where they maintain BO (beneficiary owner's) accounts.

Application/instruction for public issue may be submitted in prescribed paper or electronic paper containing Customer ID, Name, BO Account Number, Number of Securities applied for, Total Amount and Category of Applicant.

Applicant shall make the application money available in respective customer account maintained with the stock broker or merchant banker provided that no margin facility, advance and deferred payment is permissible to apply for public issue.

Non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) and foreign applicants will have to submit bank drafts in favor issuer for an amount equivalent to application money.

After verifying applicant's available fund and accumulating all buy instructions, the merchant bankers and stock brokers will block customer account for an amount equivalent to application money and deposit the amount in the 'Public Issue Application Account' maintained with their banks.

Application money submitted by merchant banks and stock brokers against their own portfolios will also be transferred to 'Public Issue Application Account'.

Stock brokers and merchant bankers then will prepare the list of applicants and send it to the issuer within three working days from the date of subscription closing.

After receiving verification information from the Central Depository Bangladesh Limited (CDBL), the issuer will prepare the list of valid and invalid applications and submit the report to the commission and the stock exchanges within 10 working days from the date of receiving information from the exchanges. With next three days of reporting to the commission and exchanges, the issuer and issue manager will conduct category wise lottery.

Within two working days of posting the lottery results on the website of company, commission and exchanges, the issuer will send category wise lists of successful and un-successful applicants to the respective stock exchange.

On the next working day, the stock exchange will distribute the information and allotment letters among the stock brokers and merchant bankers with an instruction of remitting the amount of successful applicants to the issuer's Escrow Account and unlock the amount of unsuccessful applicants.

The government has decided to extend prioritised loan facility from EEF (Equity and Entrepreneurship Fund) to prawn farming in fresh water and milk production aiming to patronise the sectors, officials said.

It has also decided to increase loan facility from state-owned commercial and specialised banks for the two sectors to boost their production, they added.

 "The two sectors need patronisation considering their importance and growing demand. So, we have decided to help extend loan facility for them," a senior official at the ministry of finance told the FE.

He said both the state-owned banks and Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB), the operational in-charge of the EEF have been asked to extend loan facility as much as possible to prawn farming and milk production sectors.

The official said in the recent years demand of milk has increased manifold for which a large number of farmers have set up farms for milk production. These farmers need money as working capital and to establish more farms to meet local demands of milk.

He also said shrimp farming in sweet water has started to be popular in Bangladesh. Farmers grow shrimp and paddy together at the same field in this case. The sector also needs support for thriving, he added.

Sources said in August last year the banks and financial institutions division under the ministry of finance (MoF) had asked the state owned banks and the ICB to let it know how much loans has been granted to these sectors so far and how further support can be extended.

After that the state banks and the ICB had sent the data to MoF, and the central bank for necessary actions.

The ICB also held a meeting with the stakeholders on how supports can be further extended to boost shrimp and milk production.

Based on the meeting output, opinions from stakeholder, and experts, and consulting the EEF policy the ICB suggested that EEF loan support for dairy firms can be continued and if needed number of such project approval can be increased.

It also suggested for include animal feed production projects in the EEF scheme and to grant loan to profitable concerns. The ICB also recommended for taking two plot projects for growing high quality calves which will lead increased milk production.

Besides, the ICB has suggested for extending loans to milk and milk-food processing projects to those areas where presently increased volume of milk is being produced and has well connectivity with rest of the country.

Officials said the ICB also recommended for giving utmost priority in loan sanction to those projects which intended to shrimp farming in fresh water. Besides, the entrepreneurs can be encouraged to take more such projects for fresh water prawn production.

The central bank launched the EEF in 1999 with an initial allocation of Tk 1.0 billion aiming to promote agro-based industries and ICT sector initiatives. Latter, in December 2000 the operational activity of the fund was transferred to the ICB.

Until November 2013 some Tk 24.41 billion was approved as loan in favour of 1,306 agro-based industry and Tk 1.29 billion towards 89 ICT projects.  However, during the period some Tk 8.52 billion and Tk 698 million were disbursed in favour 500 agro based and 60 ICT based projects respectively.

On the other hand, Tk 1.08 billion could be realised from 58 agro-based and Tk 149 million from 13 ICT based projects.