The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has asked all scheduled banks to appoint five to ten officials in each bank at the district level to work as mentors for grooming information and communication technology (ICT) entrepreneurs.

This initiative has been taken to groom entrepreneurs in the ICT sector at the district level, according to the BB circular issued on Thursday.

In response to an instruction made by the ICT division of the telecom ministry, the central bank asked the scheduled banks to appoint officials to implement the government decision.

The initiative was aimed to create skilled manpower to create a strong base for Bangladeshi products in the international ICT market, said the ICT Division letter. Earlier, the government completed the project "Freelancer to Entrepreneurs Development Programme." Now its target is to have entrepreneurs across the country.

ICT Division Secretary Nazrul Islam Khan mentioned in the letter that the new entrepreneurs would be recruited at different High Tech Parks including Kaliakoir High Tech Park and Jessore High Tech Park.

He also said the appointed officials from each district would monitor and guide the entrepreneurs so that they could be interested in their work.

The ministry thinks the initiative will help materialise the government vision 2021 and it will also help build ICT based-society.

BASIC Bank Managing Director Kazi Faqurul Islam has been removed from his position on charges of irregularities and corruption.

Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor S K Sur Chowdhury told bdnews24.com on Sunday evening that Islam had been removed because of corruption charges and a failure to comply with the MoU signed with the central bank.

“His term would have ended on June 8. We sent him a letter informing him of his removal in the afternoon,” he said.

Bdnews4.com has published reports on loan fraud and irregularities in recruitment and promotion at the state-owned bank.

The reports revealed that the bank’s board of directors had violated Bangladesh Bank’s directives and appointed and promoted unqualified people.

A Bangladesh Bank probe revealed that the bank had even violated its own recruitment rules.

The central bank also found loan frauds worth Tk 35 billion upon inspection at BASIC Bank’s Gulshan, Shantinagar and Dilkusha branches.

Unable to prevent the frauds, Finance Minister AMA Muhith recently announced that the Gulshan branch would be closed down.

 Trust Bank Limited approved 12 percent stock dividend for its shareholders for the year ended on 31st December, 2013.

The approval came at the bank’s 15th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at Army Golf Club in Dhaka recently.

Major General Ashraf Abdullah Yussuf, Vice Chairman of the bank and Adjutant General of Bangladesh Army presided over the meeting, said a press release.

Ishtiaque Ahmed Chowdhury, Managing Director and CEO of the bank spoke at the function.

Directors Brig Gen KARM Mostafa Kamal, Brig Gen Kazi ASM Arif, Brig Gen Abu Mohammad Munir Alim, Begum Rokeya Din, Helal Uddin Ahmed, Ashrafuzzaman Khan, and Khaled Mahbub Morshed, Company Secretary attended the meeting.

The meeting approved the directors’ report and audited financial statements of the company for the year ended on 31 December 2013.

Mohosinul Karim

Though the draft of the proposed “Palli Sanchay Bank [Rural Savings Bank]” is still waiting in the parliament for passage, the authorities have already started preparation to set up around 100 upazila branches for the bank.

The “Ekti Bari Ekti Khamar [One House One Farm]” project authorities had allocated money for constructing own buildings for the 100 branches of the bank. Rest of the branch offices would be built phase by phase, Project Director Dr Prosanta Kumar Roy told the Dhaka Tribune yesterday.

The government has decided to set up the Palli Sanchay Bank for the poor to reduce poverty, realising the “Ekti Bari Ekti Khamar” project for the rural development under the LGRD Ministry.

The draft of the Rural Savings Bank Act 2013 was prepared by the Rural Development and the Cooperative Division to establish the bank, which was approved by the cabinet meeting on November 10, 2013.

Dr Roy said the draft of the act was waiting in the parliament to get its nod for setting up the bank. It was expected that it would get approval of the parliament soon to eliminate poverty of the country.

It would be a unique initiative in the country, even in Saarc countries to set up such a bank funded by the savings of the poor beneficiary groups of the project and would be established with 100% online banking system as the existing system of online transaction of the project would be handed over to the bank, the project director said.

He also said the proposed bank for the poor people would be established so that the rural people could utilise their savings for a better life, and change their fate.

“Its banking activities will be started after the bill is passed in the parliament. But, we have already started the process of building own offices for the bank as its banking activities is already going on. We will just hand over the assets and resources to the bank,” he added.

“We are hopeful that the branches of the bank will be set up in all the upazilas by this year and gradually it will be opened at union level.”

He said the way the “One House One Farm” project had been showing a new path in poverty alleviation, the same way the “Palli Sanchay Bank” would help rural people build their fortune themselves and shield them from the high interest charged by microfinance institutions. The bank members would get loan at less than 10% interest. The initiative of the government would reduce poverty of the country to below 20% by 2015 from the present rate of 29.75%, he opined.

The project director also said the number of beneficiaries from the project was 21.6 lakh under around 36,000 societies across the country. The savings of the beneficiaries had already risen to Tk570 crore, he added. The government had given Tk355 crore as bonus for the members according to its terms and conditions.

Total investment of the project is around Tk925 crore while over Tk579 crore was distributed among the members. Earlier, the project director briefed some reporters about the progress and success of the project.

He said the project was expecting that it would be possible to create a fund of around Tk9 lakh for each society under the project. It would be created with the contribution of the members and donation of the government.

News:Dhaka Tribune/25-May-2014

The bank took the initiative for introducing computerised system in all the branches recently as part of its overall development plan to provide modern banking service to the clients, said Rupali Bank chairman Dr. Ahmad al- Kabir.

‘’We have started automation system, ATM service into the banks to conduct competitive banking activities as like as the other banks’’, he said.

“We will introduce online banking system in the rest of 131 branches soon.”

The bank has established 40 ATM booths in different districts across the country. Clients of 58 branches of the bank are getting the ATM service.

News:Dhaka Tribune/25-May-2014