The beleaguered BASIC Bank is facing accusations that it abetted in laundering of money from Bangladesh on top of irregularities in loan disbursement.

A Bangladesh Bank investigation report has set forth this startling discovery.

After finishing the inspection of its Gulshan branch, Bangladesh Bank officials said the bank deliberately hid details of some LC documents -- 21 exports LCs of 10 companies -- from the central Bank from September 2012 to July 2013.

Branch officials also failed to produce before the central bank inspectors documents that export earnings had really been sent to Bangladesh.

Bangladesh Bank suspended operations of its three branches, including the Gulshan branch, when a series of allegations about corruption and irregularities surfaced against the government-run bank.

 

 

According to the report, 10 companies had exported $550,347 worth of goods abroad. But the branch officials did not notify the central bank about their LC transactions.

Export earnings of another company worth $107,956 have yet to arrive in the country though the deadline is over.

Rules have it that copies of LC documents have to be sent to Bangladesh Bank within 14 days after the export goods are shipped. Any deviation of that rule is a punishable offence.

Export earnings have to be sent to the country of origin within 120 days after the goods are shipped.

Bangladesh Bank officials told bdnews24.com keeping the central bank in the dark about export documents was a suspicious act.

Ill-intention comes into play when banks hide this information and they do so to evade responsibility when there is a case of laundering export earnings, they observed.

A Bangladesh Bank official on the condition of anonymity said, “We look into which companies hide their LC information, which companies have not brought back their export earnings and whether directors of these companies are somehow related to management or executive committees of banks.”

bdnews24.com’s calls to the Basic Bank acting managing director for comments on this matter went unanswered.

The Bangladesh Bank investigation committee had found loan fraud to the tune of Tk 15 billion. Later it also found irregularities in Tk 10 billion loan disbursement.

On 17 April, BASIC Bank board of directors fired Gulshan branch manger and Deputy Managing director Shifer Ahmed and Head of Loan Department Zahid Hasan.

BB governor tells FICCI seminar

Bangladesh represents a resilient sovereign credit story buoyed by high and consistent growth, improving public finances, and an increasingly supportive business environment said Bangladesh Bank (BB) governor Dr Atiur Rahman. Despite numerous external and domestic shocks to the economy, Bangladesh has continued its impressive growth trajectory said the governor while addressing a seminar on ‘Macroeconomy and Investment: Bangladesh Perspectives’ at a city hotel on Sunday.
The seminar was organised by Foreign Investors Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) with a view to attracting more foreign direct investment in the country.
The governor has underscored the need for some major initiatives to attract FDI such as head of the state level negotiations, alignment of trade and investment related institutions, gradual liberalization of foreign exchange and trade restrictions. Atiur also stressed the need for plot and factory building reservation in EPZs for foreign investors.
Bangladesh is the ideal destination for foreign direct investment due to the low costs of service delivery said the BB chief adding that the government has undertaken initiatives to upgrade the skill of the labour.
The ADB supported Skill for Employment Improvement Programme initiative in which BB SME unit is a partner will make more skilled worker available for the foreign investors, also said the governor.
The recent reforms by the central bank were made to encourage more FDI in the country including enhancement of financing options for foreign owned or controlled companies. Restrictions to access of foreign owned or controlled companies in Bangladesh to term loans in Taka from the local market have been waived, said the governor. Under the new instructions, foreign owned or controlled companies engaged in manufacturing or services output activities for three years or longer in Bangladesh can access Taka term loans from the domestic market regardless of local content in their equity, also added Atiur. Moreover, working capital financing in foreign currency from parent company is also now permissible without prior approval as interest-free loan
The central bank has already removed lock-in period for foreign investment in Treasury Bonds (which have attractive rates). The seminar was also addressed among others by the former FICCI president Syed Ershad Ahmed and the current president of FICCI Rupali Chowdhury.

Bangladesh Bank on Sunday asked the scheduled banks to extend their cooperation to the importers of essential commodities so that they (importers) can open easily letters of credit against such items to meet demand for the commodities in the upcoming Ramadan. The BB issued a circular to the authorised dealer branches of all banks saying that the central bank had taken the initiative to keep stable the prices of essential commodities ahead of Ramadan. The BB suggested the banks that they should extend their support to the businesspeople so that they can open LCs easily maintaining regular process. ‘The prices of essential commodities including edible oil, sugar and dates usually increase ahead of Ramadan,’ a BB official told New Age on Sunday. The BB data showed that the import bill payment had already posted a10.64-per cent growth in April this year compared with that of 2.30 per cent growth in the same month last year due to a rise in payment of bills for food products imported to meet demand in the upcoming Ramadan. The total import bill payment stood at $3.04 billion in April this year. The figure was $2.74 billion in April 2013 and $2.68 billion in April 2012. 

Foreign banks posted sluggish net profits last year mainly due to political turmoil that forced them to set aside a significant portion of their income to deal with bad loans.
Their net profit rose only 2.63 percent year-on-year to Tk 1,615 crore in 2013, according to finance ministry statistics.
But in 2012, the growth in their net profit was 16.50 percent, and the amount stood at Tk 1,573 crore.
The foreign banks made a gross profit of Tk 3,098 crore last year, according to a Banking Division report placed in parliament along with budget documents on June 5.
Banks calculate their net profit by deducting tax and provisioning against default loans from the gross profit.
In 2013, the foreign banks paid Tk 1,267.80 crore in taxes from their gross profit.
Last year, many state and private banks got their bad loans rescheduled under Bangladesh Bank's relaxed loan rescheduling policy. But most of the foreign banks did not take the opportunity and had to go for provisioning against bad loans.
In 2013, Standard Chartered Bank made provision of Tk 170 crore for bad loans, more than double the previous year's amount at Tk 81 crore.
State Bank of India had to set aside Tk 40 crore for bad loans in 2013, a tenfold increase from a year ago.
The foreign banks' income rose by only 9 percent in 2013 over the previous year, according to the Banking Division report.
However, their expenditure went up by more than 15 percent. As imports fell last year, income of these banks from import trade decreased by around 0.60 percent.
In 2013, the foreign banks accounted for around 7.3 percent of the total asset in the banking sector.  
Of the major foreign banks, Standard Chartered's net profit rose 14 percent to Tk 896 crore in 2013, compared to the previous year.
The net profit of State Bank of India slumped 68 percent and stood at only Tk 24 crore. Citibank NA's net profit fell 34 percent to around Tk 86 crore.
In recent times, two Pakistan-based banks have been suffering losses every year and counted losses last year as well.
Profits of private banks, which control 60 percent of the total banking assets, also saw a slim growth last year.
The private banks' total operating profit rose 8.75 percent year-on-year to Tk 12,209 crore in 2013, when they made a combined net profit of Tk 5,536 crore.

Finance Minister Abul Maal Abdul Muhith today said Bangladesh Krishi Bank (BKB) and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank (RAKUB) have been working through 1,404 branches across the country for the development of the agriculture sector, reports BSS. “The BKB has 1,028 branches across the country excepting Rajshahi and Rangpur divisions,” he told the House while replying to a question of treasury bench member M Shibly Sadique.