Banking
Meghna Bank holds business review meeting
HN Ashequr Rahman, MP, Chairman of Meghna Bank Ltd, is seen at the bank’s half-yearly business review meeting at the bank’s head office in Dhaka on Saturday. Meghna Bank Limited organised half-yearly business review meeting at the bank’s head office in Dhaka on Saturday.
HN Ashequr Rahman, MP, Chairman of Meghna Bank attended the meeting as chief guest, said a press release.
Abdul Alim Khan Selim, Vice Chairman, Shakhawat Hossain, Chairman of Audit Committee, Md Kamal Uddin, Chairman of Executive Committee, Md Ali Azim Khan and SM Jahangir Alam Manik, Directors of the bank were present at the meeting as special guests.
Mohammed Nurul Amin, Managing Director of Meghna Bank presided over the meeting.
Md Mohashin Miah, Additional Managing Director, senior officials and branch managers were present at the meeting.
During the meeting, the bank’s management reviewed previous business progress and set strategic business plans for next few months of the year.
United Commercial Bank organises managers’ confce
Muhammed Ali, Managing Director of United Commercial Bank Limited, along with other senior officials of the bank are seen at Half-yearly Chittagong Zone Managers’ Conference at Chittagong Club recently. Half-yearly Managers Conference of Chittagong Zone of United Commercial Bank Limited (UCBL) was held at Chittagong Club recently.
Muhammed Ali, Managing Director of the bank presided over the conference, said a press release.
M. Shahidul Islam, Mirza Mahmud Rafiqur Rahman and A. E. Abdul Muhaimen, Additional Managing Directors of the bank were present at the conference.
Mohammad Abu Abdullah, Md. Tariqul Azam and Mohammad Shawkat Jamil, Deputy Managing Directors along with other senior officials and managers of the bank were present at the conference.
The conference reviewed the bank’s existing strategic policy for catering the future tactical work plan to expand the quality of client service and product diversity at the conference.
Participants at the conference expressed their opinion on the continuation and acceleration of the success of UCBL.
BKB disburses Tk 64.25cr agri loan in Narsingdi
NARSINGDI: Bangla- desh Krishi Bank (BKB) Narsingdi region has disbursed Taka 64.25 crore as agricultural loan among 7,104 farmers in the six upazilas of the district during the last fiscal year.
Official sources said BKB earmarked Taka 89.35 crore for distribution as agricultural loan in the district for the last fiscal year. The percentage of loan distribution by the bank in the region stands at 72 per cent on June 30.
Meanwhile, the BKB realised Taka 66.85 crore outstanding loan against the target of Taka 109.50 crore during the same period.
DGM of BKB Shahidul Islam said the net profit of BKB Narsingdi region for the last fiscal year is Taka 1.21 crore.
He said BKB disbursed the loan for cultivation of Aman, Boro, wheat, banana, papya, vegetables, maize, pulse, setting poultry and dairy farms, pisciculture, purchasing agriculture and irrigation equipment, small trading. —BSS
Marauders on the prowl
A number of forgeries has been detected in the disbursement of a huge amount of loans by the Dilkusha branch of the BASIC Bank in the first half of this year. The bank disbursed Tk. 1,316 crore in loans to its clients till June.
Despite being hit by a huge scam related to disbursal of loans over the last couple of years, depositors’ money from the bank continued to be plundered. Loans worth Tk. 25 crore were disbursed in the first six months of this year, with the Dilkusha branch flouting banking rules with impunity.
Most of the loans were distributed without proper credit assessment and, in some cases, large-scale cheating was conducted during disbursal of loans, an inspection by the central bank revealed. A good number of loans had been cleared without visiting the businesses and without collecting Credit Information Bureau (CIB) reports of many customers. Some loans were approved in undue haste. Loans were even disbursed to fake companies.
The companies which benefited from the loan irregularities are Venerable Export Industries Ltd, Prime Jute Industries Ltd, Nova Auto Bricks, Phoenix Hatchery Ltd, Sohel Enterprise, Reliance Shipping Lines, Dav Enterprise, Apollo Engineering and Construction Ltd, and Oil Tex Ltd.
The Dilkusha branch disbursed a Tk. 2 crore CC loan to M/S Venerable Export Industries Ltd against mortgage of its property on December 30, 2013. The amount was disbursed in a single pay order, but since then, no transaction was found in that account.
The investigation also found that the branch manager influenced the credit officers to disburse a Tk. 7-crore term loan on April 22 this year to the company, despite objections from the bank’s legal officer. The legal department, in its objection, noted that the property which was mortgaged by the company was not sufficient for availing the loan.
Again, by providing a loan to Prime Jute Industries Ltd despite objections from the bank’s legal team, the bank incurred a loss of Tk. 8.3 crore.
The Dilkusha branch manager also ordered disbursement of Tk. 52-lakh credit in favour of two sister concerns of Prime, without approval from the bank’s head office.
In April this year, Nova Auto Bricks, which had a classified loan of Tk. 35.6 crore with the bank, was given a fresh loan of nearly Tk. 1 crore in clear violation of the Bank Company Act, 1991. After getting the loan, the company did not make any transaction in its account.
Phoenix Hatchery Ltd has a classified loan with the bank, amounting to Tk. 10 crore. Even then, the company was given a term loan of Tk. 3.10 crore in February in violation of banking rules.
The bank provided a Tk. 4-crore loan to Sohel Enterprise even though it knew that the company already had a Tk. 16-crore bad loan with the bank.
Swindling turned into an art in the case of Reliance Shipping, which was given a Tk. 16-crore loan against the purchase of three vessels from Belayet Navigation owned by Gazi Belayet Hossain, general secretary of Bangladesh Cargo Vessel Owners’ Association.
However, during the inspection, the central bank found no existence of Reliance Shipping, and concluded that a fake company had been created to loot the amount from the bank. The total outstanding on the Reliance account stands at Tk. 21.32 crore now.
“It is most surprising that the loan file is not available in the bank’s custody,” said the Bangladesh Bank (BB) report. According to the BB team, the customer, along with the branch manager and credit officials, forged the entire loan amount.
The Dilkusha branch approved a CC loan for Tk. 3.5 crore in favour of M/S Dav Enterprise on October 19, 2011. Within four months of the CC loan approval, the bank increased the CC loan limit to Tk. 13.50 crore without any specific reason. The current outstanding of the company is Tk. 16.11 crore. The BB team found irregularities in the disbursal of the loan as it was approved despite objections from the legal department.
M/S Apollo Engineering and Construction Ltd opened 12 L/Cs and 23 STL. The company’s total outstanding is now Tk. 51.57 crore. On December 30, 2012, without any strong reason in favour of the customer, the bank authorities enhanced the time limit of the payment. The BB inspection team criticised the board for enhancing the time limit for the company.
Oil Tex Ltd and its subsidiaries have an outstanding loan of Tk. 181.30 crore with the Dilkusha branch and Tk. 46.63 crore of it is classified. Despite being a classified borrower, a Tk. 6.20-crore loan was given to the company this year, in clear violation of banking rules.
Pubali aims for paperless, faster banking
Helal Ahmed Chowdhury, managing director of Pubali Bank, speaks at the inauguration of a daylong workshop on ethical banking at The Daily Star Centre in Dhaka yesterday.
Pubali Bank aims to expand its online banking and introduce new products to meet growing demand and become more competitive.
The largest private bank is also set to launch its mobile banking service, Pubali Cash, in a couple of months to serve unbanked people.
The bank that has already automated its 425 branches is also working on introducing its first credit card next month.
“We are focusing on paperless banking in a bid to render faster services to clients,” said Helal Ahmed Chowdhury, managing director of the bank, adding the bank will recruit about 550 employees this year.
Chowdhury spoke at the inauguration of a daylong workshop on ethical banking at The Daily Star Centre in Dhaka yesterday, with around 70 officials of the bank's 19 branches located in Old Dhaka.
Pubali plans to double the number of ATM booths to 200 this year and take the figure to 1,000 in next eight years to establish its own network across the country, said Safiul Alam Khan Chowdhury, deputy managing director of the bank.
On mobile banking, he said Pubali has already completed all the procedures to launch the service. “We are waiting for appropriate time to begin the operation.”
Pubali Cash will provide mobile financial services similar to other operators. It includes cash in and out and payments to multiple recipients
Average daily transactions by mobile rose 117 percent year-on-year to Tk 263 crore in March, according to Bangladesh Bank data.
At last count in March, the country had more than 1.50 crore mobile banking subscribers, up 2.77 percent from the previous month.
The bank, which has so far employed nearly 7,500 people, aims to open eight new branches this year, the deputy managing director said. “We are planning to open more branches to serve more people with ethical banking.”
Pubali Bank arranged the workshop for the officials of the bank's Dhaka South region to educate them on ethical banking, environmental risk management, green banking, anti-money laundering and foreign remittance.
“This region has 19 branches which are highly profitable due to huge business potential,” said M Shahnawaz Chowdhury, general manager and head of region of the bank.
At the end of June 2014, the bank's outstanding loans stood at Tk 13,398 crore, of which 6.09 percent came from Dhaka South zone, he said.
The bank's Dhaka South zone also contributes nearly 5 percent of bank's total deposits of around Tk 20,000 crore, said the region head.
Pubali Bank, which has now around 9 lakh active account holders, has recently reduced the interest rates on its commercial loans by 1.5 percentage points to 15 percent to encourage industrial expansion and economic development.
The bank has also introduced an SMS-based banking service to provide information to its customers round the clock.
The SMS service includes transaction notifications, loan sanctions and disbursements, L/C openings and payments, card activations/deactivations, monthly balance notifications, ATM transaction and internet banking access.
Meanwhile, the bank has also started recruiting physically challenged people. “From now on we will hire at least 2 such people each year as part of our corporate social responsibility” Chowdhury, the bank's DMD, said.
Bangalee entrepreneurs established Pubali Bank in 1959 in the then East Pakistan. After independence in 1971, like others, the bank was taken over by the government. In the early 1980s, the bank was again handed over to the private sector.
Pubali Bank set a target to disburse Tk 254 crore in farm credit this fiscal year, as compared to Tk 225 crore a year ago.
The bank's operating profit rose to Tk 340 crore during January-June, up from Tk 323 crore compared to the same time last year, according to the DMD.
Non-performing loans of the bank have now come down to around 5 percent from 18.40 percent in 2004, he added.
MA Halim Chowdhury, additional managing director of the bank, also attended the event.