Business leader appreciated Bangladesh Bank for making a foreign exchange reserve of over $20bn

The second term of his appointment in the bank, allegedly involved in credit scams of Tk4,500 crore, is scheduled to expire on September 9 this year .

Basic Bank Chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bachchu 

Basic Bank Chairman Sheikh Abdul Hye Bachchu would be removed before his tenure in the wake of huge financial irregularities in the bank.

The second term of his appointment in the bank, allegedly involved in credit scams of Tk4,500 crore, is scheduled to expire on September 9 this year.

“It can be considered as a punishment due to involvement in the credit scam,” Banking Division Secretary Dr Aslam Alam told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday. He would not say the exact date of the announcement, however. 

He said the removal of the chairman is being done at the directive of Finance Minister AMA Muhith.

      Sources in the Bank and Financial Institutions Division said the bank board will be restructured instead of Bangladesh Bank’s recommendation to remove the board of directors.

The move is, however, getting delayed as the finance minister now busy preparing the budget for the next fiscal year scheduled to be placed on June 5, officials said. The announcement may come soon after the budget, said one of them.

The board of director of the bank has recognised the allegation of huge corruption, sources in the finance division said.

 Shubhashish Bose, Shyam Sunder Sikder, Neelufar Ahmed, Quamrun Naher Ahmed, Md. Anwarul Islam and Anis Ahamad are in the bank’s board.

Sheikh Abdul Hye Bachchu had entered into the deep sea fishing business in 2011 when he has been made chairman of Basic Bank and he spent around Tk150 crore on 11 deep-sea fishing trawlers in less than two years.

Bangladesh Bank investigations detected massive financial irregularities involving around Tk4,500 crore of loans in the bank’s three branches between 2009 and 2013.

The Gulshan branch alone lent more than Tk3,111 crore last year against its deposit of Tk695 crore only. 

The loan-deposit ratio reached to whooping 427%, meaning it has lent Tk427 against a deposit of Tk100.

Troubled BASIC Bank has doubled its branches to 68 in the last five years, but 70% of its business activities are controlled by graft-ridden four branches. Of the four branches, loan activities have recently been suspended in three – Dilkusha, Gulshan and Shantinagar – by the central bank on charges of loan frauds. The fourth one is the bank’s main branch.

The bank had only 32 branches in September 2009 when the incumbent board of directors was appointed by the government.      

The central bank last week fired BASIC Bank Managing Director Kazi Faqurul Islam for presiding over a period of serious irregularities at the state-run bank.

MUMBAI: India’s central bank holds its first monetary policy-setting meeting this week amid speculation its hawkish stance could bring it into conflict with the pro-growth policies of the new Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

Analysts say the central bank’s strong anti-inflation policies may clash with Modi’s aim of reviving an economy which grew by 4.7 percent last year—the lowest level in nearly a decade, and half the rate seen during India’s boom years.

Central bank chief Raghuram Rajan, a former International Monetary Fund chief economist, has hiked interest rates three times since taking over the helm last September.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor’s policies have been widely lauded for helping to reduce the current account deficit - - the widest measure of trade—and restoring the rupee’s stability. But his tight money policy has disappointed business leaders who have called for lower borrowing costs to spur growth—a view analysts say could find sympathy with Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government.

“The RBI and the government may not be on the same page,” said Anjali Verma, an economist at financial services firm PhillipCapital. “But it would be a big risk to remove Rajan, especially after his moves were responsible for bringing back stability” to the currency market, she told AFP.

Economists widely expect the bank to keep its trend-setting repo rate—at which the RBI lends to commercial banks—on hold at eight percent at Tuesday’s policy meeting, but say there is no chance it will lower the rate. 

 Rupali Bank Limited declared 15 percent stock dividend for its shareholders for the year ended on 31st December, 2013.

The declaration came at the bank’s 28th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the Institution of Diploma Engineers in Dhaka on Saturday.

Dr. Ahmad Al-Kabir, Chairman of the bank, presided over the meeting, said a press release on Sunday.

M Farid Uddin, MD, Gokul Chand Das, Addl Secretary, Md Ashiqul Haque Chowdhury, Advocate Sattyendra Chandra Bhakta, Mohiuddin Faruqui, Dr. Md Hasibur Rashid, Abu Sufian, Barrister Zakir Ahammad, Professor Md Salim Uddin, AKM Delwer Hussain and Dr. Sushil Ranjan Howlader, Directors of the bank, attended the meeting.

Mercantile Bank Limited has selected 10 virtuous persons and one organisation for the Mercantile Bank Achievement Award-2014.

M. Ehsanul Haque, Managing Director of the bank said this at a press conference at the bank’s head office in Dhaka on Sunday.

On the occasion of the 15th anniversary, the bank will give the awards at a function at Pan Pacific Sonagaon Hotel today. Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed is expected to attend the function as chief guest, he said.

The persons who have been selected for the awards are AF Salahuddin Ahmed (Education), Valerie Ann Taylor (Medical), Mostafa Monowar (Culture), Air Vice Marshal (Retd.) A K Khandker, Bir Uttom (Research on Liberation War), Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed, (Economics Research), Selina Hossain (Bangla language and literature), Mahbubur Rahman (Industry and Trade), Nurjahan Begum (Journalism), Zobera Rahman Linu (Sports), Dr Ainun Nishat, (Science and Technology) and Bangladesh Institute of Nuclear Agriculture (Agricultural Research and Development).