Social Islami Bank Limited (SIBL) signed a corporate medical service agreement with United Hospital Limited.

A M M Farhad, Deputy Managing Director of the bank and Dr. Dabir Uddin Ahmed, Director, Clinical Operations of the hospital signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations recently, said a press release.

Major (Retd.) Dr. Md Rezaul Haque, Chairman of Social Islami Bank Ltd and Faridur Rahman Khan, Managing Director of United Hospital and senior executives of both the organisations were also present on the occasion.

Under this agreement, United Hospital will provide medical, hospitalisation, diagnostic and health checkup services to the employees of the bank and their dependents.

Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday slapped financial penalty amounting to Tk 50,000 on Janata Bank due to its failure in settling foreign bills against letters of credit in due time.
To this end, the BB issued a letter to managing director and chief executive officer of Janata Bank asking him to pay the fine by next 14 days. Otherwise, the central bank will deduct the money from the bank’s current account with the central bank, said the letter.
The BB letter said the central bank had served a show-cause notice on Janata Bank on April 7 to explain why it failed to settle the foreign bills in due time against LCs.
The central bank had also served the show-cause notice to another 21 banks on the day due to their failure in settling the foreign bills. The BB later issued same show-cause letter against more seven banks.
Janata Bank has recently replied to the BB’s show-cause notice but it could not satisfy the central bank.
The central bank asked Janata Bank to settle the overdue acceptance bills in the quickest possible time; otherwise, it would take more punitive measure against the bank.
A BB official told New Age on Tuesday that Janata Bank had also a huge number of overdue inland bills for local LCs along with foreign bills.
‘The central bank has already asked the bank to settle the pending local bills. The BB will take same punitive measure against the bank if it keeps overdue in local bills’, he said.
The official said the BB was now thinking to take tough action against other banks which had faced central bank’s show-cause notice.
Due to the overdue acceptance bills in foreign LCs, the country is now bearing extra cost in LC confirmation charges, another BB official said.
The LC confirmation charge is imposed when an exporter’s (foreign party) bank wants security in receiving payments under the LC.
The central bank had issued a circular to managing directors of scheduled bank on March 12 in this regard.
The BB had warned in the circular that it would impose fine against the banks if they failed to settle their inland and foreign bills of LCs timely.
According to the circular, the country’s banking sector has been facing an image crisis as some banks are not settling their acceptance bills for foreign LCs in due time.
The banks concerned are now counting excess interest rate and are not settling the acceptance bills in due time, the circular had said.
Against the backdrop, the cost of import is now on an upward trend and it would put an adverse impact on the commodity price, the BB said.

A file photo shows an Indian ragpicker working in front of election hoarding displaying the image of the then chief minister of the western state of Gujarat Narendra Modi, who was sworn-in as the 15th prime minister of the country on Monday, in Allahabad. 

Congratulating Narendra Modi on becoming the prime minister, India Inc on Monday said it was looking forward to an era of renewed trust and expressed confidence that the nation will leapfrog into a higher orbit of growth creating more jobs, income and social stability. ‘Indian industry would build on its association with the prime minister to forge an extensive partnership with the new Government and facilitate a conducive climate for growth and investment,’ CII director general Chandrajit Banerjee said. ‘We are delighted to see a lean team. A lean teamwork would definitely lead to effective governance,’ he added. Modi was sworn-in as the 15th prime minister of the country on Monday at the majestic forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhawan. Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Nitin Gadkari were among those who took oath as cabinet ministers. ‘We look forward to an era of renewed trust and governance that will inspire enterprises and youth in meeting societal needs and aspirations,’ FICCI president Sidharth Birla said. ‘Building business confidence, creating job-enabling environment, mitigating food inflation and improving nutrition & sanitation, should be top priorities for the government,’ he added. Mahindra & Mahindra CMD Anand Mahindra, who could not make it to the ceremony as he was out of the country, wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter: ‘We congratulate our new prime minister & his cabinet. The Mahindra Group pledges to put its collective shoulder to the wheel. Let’s get moving’. ‘We congratulate India’s Governance and Development driven captain prime minister Narendra Modi to lead the nation into an era of exceptional and high quality, sustainable 10 per cent growth,’ Assocham president Rana Kapoor said. ‘The re-engineering of the entire government machinery at the top with a sharp reduction in the number of Council of Ministers will considerably reduce the inter — ministerial conflicts and speed up decision — making,’ he added. Indo-American Chamber of Commerce president Chella Srinivasan said: ‘We pledge our whole-hearted support not only in building a new India but also for consolidating the growing Indo-US business partnership, which can bind more closely the two largest democracies in the world.’ ‘All eyes are now set at the highest standards of the governance promised by Narendra Modi and his team with hope that it would deliver the desired results and uplift India from its current state of affairs, politically, economically and socially,’ PHD Chamber of Commerce president Sharad Jaipuria said. 

Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman addresses a Green Bankers’ Conference in Dhaka on Tuesday. 

Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman on Tuesday asked scheduled banks and non-bank financial institutions not to finance any project which will put an adverse impact on environment.
The banks and the NBFIs should strengthen their green financing to ensure the country’s sustainable development, he said at a Green Bankers’ Conference organised by the central bank at Bangladesh Bank Training Academy in the capital.
‘The country achieved on an average six per cent GDP growth in the recent years which has already extended the economic activities. It is high time to ensure green financing along with the economic activities in the greater interest of inclusive growth’, he said.
The financial sector accelerates global climate change and environmental degradation through their ‘financed emissions’ i.e. the greenhouse gas emissions induced by their loan facility, he said.
Nowadays the green bankers know that the financial sector has a pivotal role to play in de-carbonizing the economy and reducing global emissions of greenhouse gases at the required pace and scale.
Green technology may be an effective way to improve resource efficiency and coordinating the different processes responsible for green growth, the BB governor said.
To foster the development of green technology, appropriate financing mechanism should be adopted by the banks and financial intermediaries, he said.
Widespread implementation of green initiatives and energy saving technologies can facilitate Bangladesh to cleanse its environment, but access to finance is vital for the successful implementation of green initiatives, the BB governor said.
This is high time for the banks and financial institutions to move forward with research and development which are indispensable for exploring appropriate technologies and techniques and new green products, Atiur said.
BB deputy governor SK Sur Chowdhury said that the BB had already formulated a number of regulations and policies to promote the green financing in the business sector.
He said, ‘It is important to ensure the sustainable economic development for inclusive growth. So, the banks and the NBFIs will have to increase their green financing which will ensure the green economy.’
Dhaka University professor Saiful Huque said that the banks and the NBFIs should finance to invent environment-friendly technology.
‘Our goal is to save the people and the country. The goal will be ensured if we can protect our environment’, he said.
IFC Bangladesh country manager Kyle Kelhofer and BB executive director Ataur Rahman, among others, addressed at the first session of the conference.

State-run Sonali Bank yesterday filed another case against Hall-Mark Group on charges of taking more than Tk 450.84 crore in loans on fake documents.
Abdus Salam, executive officer of the bank's Ruposhi Bangla Hotel branch, filed the case with the Money Loan Court-1 in Dhaka.
Hall-Mark Chairperson Jasmine Islam, Managing Director Tanvir Mahmud and Hall-Mark Fashions Limited, a concern of the group, were made accused in the case.
After hearing, Judge Md Robiuzzaman directed the defendants to explain why steps would not be taken against them by June 29.
In March and April, the bank filed 13 other cases against Jasmine, Tanvir and 11 of their companies with the same court for taking Tk 387.43 crore in loan on forged documents.
Sonali Bank started filing the cases after it failed to get buyers for the mortgaged assets of Hall-Mark. The bank auctioned some assets, including lands, last month, but got no buyer.
The Anti-Corruption Commission filed 11 cases against 27 persons of Hall-Mark and its lender Sonali Bank in October 2012 and pressed charges against 25 of them in October last year on money laundering allegation.
Seven accused, including Tanvir, are now in jail while Jasmine is on bail and 17 others are absconding.
Hall-Mark alone took away Tk 2,686 crore from the branch on forged documents between 2010 and 2012. The scam shook the country when it came to light in May 2012.