The assistance is the first tranche of the $350m multi-tranche financing facility (MFF) approved by ADB under the Skills for Employment Investment Program

Graft-ridden BASIC Bank yesterday suspended Md Waliullah, the manager of its Gulshan branch, on charges of corruption, a senior official of the bank said.
Waliullah was 'stand released' on Monday and sent to the bank's headquarters.
“He has failed to perform his duty,” Major (retd) Ruhul Alam, a deputy managing director, said, adding that an investigation will be carried out soon.
Officials at the bank said, once Waliullah had a good relation with Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu, chairman of the board of directors. Bacchu recruited him from another troubled lender, Bangladesh Commerce Bank, early last year.
BASIC Bank hit the spotlight after the central bank detected irregularities involving more than Tk 4,500 crore in loans between 2010 and 2012. Of the loans, more than Tk 1,500 crore was disbursed from the Gulshan branch on weak documents, such as inflated mortgage prices, without assessing borrowers' creditworthiness.

Updated data of the bank shows, the Gulshan branch lent nearly Tk 3,112 crore in 2013 against the branch's deposit of Tk 695 crore. Its loan-deposit ratio (LDR) stood at an astonishing 427 percent, meaning the branch granted Tk 427 as loans against deposit of Tk 100. The permissible limit of LDR is only 85 percent.
Nonperforming loans of the branch reached nearly 18 percent of its total loans at the end of 2013.
Multiple attempts to contact Waliullah were unsuccessful.
Rabiul Alam Tipu replaced him as manager of the branch on Monday.

Dhaka : A meeting of newly formed Board of Directors of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited was held on Saturday at the Board Room of Islami Bank Tower, reports in a press release. Prof. Abu Nasser Muhammad Abduz Zaher, who was re-elected Chairman of the Bank presided over the meeting. Yousif Abdullah Al-Rajhi of Saudi Arabia and Engr. Mustafa Anwar, Repr. of the Public Institution for Social Security, Kuwait re-elected Vice Chairmen, Engr. Md. Eskander Ali Khan, Repr. Al Rajhi Co. for Industry & Trade, KSA, Md. Abul Hossain, Repr. of Investment Corporation of Bangladesh (ICB), Directors were present in the meeting. Among local and foreign directors, Dr. Areef Suleman, Repr. of Islamic Development Bank, Jeddah, KSA, Mohammed Abdullah Al Jalahma, Repr. of Kuwait Awqaf Public Foundation, Professor N.R.M Borhan Uddin, PhD, Md. Abdus Salam, FCA, FCS, Humayun Bokhteyar, ACPA, FCA, Professor Dr. A.K.M. Sadrul Islam, Barrister Mohammed Belayet Hossain and Mohammad Abdul Mannan, Managing Director of the Bank were present in the meeting.
Executive Committee and Audit Committee of the Bank were re-formed in the meeting. Besides, different important policies of the Bank were encapsulated and various business proposals were approved in the meeting which expressed its satisfaction while evaluating the performance of the Bank over the success and progress achieved so far.

Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday announced the introduction of a refinance scheme worth Tk 100 crore to boost the entrepreneur development project initiated by Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The central bank board of directors approved the new refinance fund in its meeting at the BB headquarters in the capital. Under the entrepreneur development project, the DCCI has already started to create 2,000 new entrepreneurs to strengthen the country’s small and medium enterprises sector. The new entrepreneurs will be able to get loans with a lower rate of interest from the refinance fund to launch their new business ventures. Md Masum Patwary of the BB’s SME and special programmes department told New Age on Tuesday that scheduled banks and non-bank financial institutions would borrow from the central bank under the scheme at an interest rate of 5 per cent. The banks and the NBFIs may disburse loans to the entrepreneurs at an interest rate of 10 per cent to 11 per cent, he said. He, however, said the central bank was yet to fix the rate of interest for the entrepreneurs, but the BB would take the decision in the quickest possible time. 

The move comes a day after allowing agent banking activities in the rural areas, including municipalitie