The credit- or advance-deposit ratio in the banking sector continued to decline in February this year due to a dull business environment, said Bangladesh Bank officials.
According to the latest BB data, the ADR in the banking sector dropped to 70.35 per cent as of February 20, 2014 compared with that of 76.20 per cent as of February 14, 2013.
The ADR was 76.59 per cent as of December 31, 2012 and 80.33 per cent as of June 7, 2012.
A BB official told New Age that the businesspeople had adopted a ‘wait and see’ approach to expansion of their business by getting credit from banks due to the political unrest in the run up to the January 5 national polls that hit the ADR in the banking sector.
Uncertainty still persists in the business sector, he said.
He said, ‘We earlier hoped that the country’s business situation would get tempo in the second half of fiscal year 2013-14. But, the business sector is yet to get the momentum due to lack of confidence.’
For this reason, the ADR, one of the most important business indicators for the banks, has been hovering at the range of 70 per cent since December, 2013.
The BB data showed that the ADR declined in almost every month since the second half of the financial year 2012-13, he said.
A significant number of banks faced losses in the concluded year and they will suffer same situation if they see dull ADR also in the months to come, the BB official said.
In 2013, the ADR in the banking sector was 76.95 per cent as of January 10, 76.28 per cent as of February 7, 75.28 per cent as of March 14, 75.26 per cent as of April 25, 74.90 per cent as of May 2, 74.01 per cent as of June 13, 73.35 per cent as of July 11, 73.34 per cent as of August 1, 71.65 per cent as of September 26, 71.85 per cent as of October 21 and 71.91 per cent as of November 14. The ADR was 70.84 per cent in January 30, 2014.
As per BB rules, the conventional commercial banks are not allowed to invest more than 85 per cent of their deposits while Islamic banks and Islamic wings of the conventional commercial banks can invest up to 90 per cent of their deposits.
A number of banks had crossed the ADR limit in 2011 and 2012, violating the BB rules but the situation changed totally last year as the credit demand from the private sector continued to decrease, the BB official said.
The BB data showed that the ADR in 23 out of 56 banks declined below 70 per cent as of as of February 20 of this year.
The 23 banks are Agrani Bank (56.12 per cent), Bangladesh Commerce Bank (66.43 per cent), Citibank NA (34.09 per cent), Commercial Bank of Ceylon (55.37 per cent), Dutch-Bangla Bank (67.89 per cent), Farmers Bank (23.46 per cent), HSBC (56.21 per cent), Jamuna Bank (63.97 per cent), Janata Bank (61.18 per cent), Madhumati Bank (15 per cent), Meghna Bank (65.65 per cent), Midland Bank (64.02 per cent), Mutual Trust Bank (68.44 per cent), NRB Bank (24.10 per cent), Prime Bank (67.47 per cent), Pubali Bank (67.34 per cent), Rupali Bank (59.82 per cent), Sonali Bank (50.85 per cent), South Bangla Agriculture and Commerce Bank (65.36 per cent), StanChart (61.55 per cent), State Bank of India (51.89 per cent), Uttara Bank (56.17 per cent) and Woori Bank (58.43 per cent).
Banking
BKB disburses Tk 45cr farm loan in Narsingdi
NARSINGDI: Bangladesh Krishi Bank (BKB) Narsingdi region has disbursed over Taka 45.20 crore as agricultural loan among 52,800 farmers in six upazilas of the district during the last nine months of the current fiscal year.
Official sources said the BKB earmarked Taka 65.35 crore for disbursement as agriculture loan in the district during the current fiscal year. The per centage of the distribution by the bank in the region stood at 70 per cent on April 15. Meanwhile, the BKB realised Taka 51.82 crore outstanding loan against the target of Taka 65.29 crore during the same period.
The per centage of loan recovery by the bank stood at 79 per cent on April 15. The BKB generally distributes the agriculture loan for the cultivation of Aman paddy, Boro paddy, wheat, banana. papaya, vegetables, maize, pulse, setting of poultry and dairy farms, pisciculture and purchasing of irrigation equipment.
ADB appoints new country chief
The Asian Development Bank has appointed Kazuhiko Higuchi as the new country director for its Bangladesh resident mission.
‘I am looking forward to working for Bangladesh, and the people of Bangladesh,’ Kazuhiko Higuchi was quoted as saying in a statement by the ADB in Dhaka on Thursday.
‘Bangladesh is progressing fast and ADB will continue to make every effort to support Bangladesh’s endeavour toward further reaping the potential of the country,’ he said.
Higuchi succeeds M Teresa Kho, who moved to become the country director for ADB’s resident mission in New Delhi, India in February this year. Higuchi is expected to assume his new position on April 22.
Higuchi, a Japanese national, joined the ADB in 1988, and has since worked on transport, water supply, and urban development projects, as well as on portfolio management, procurement, and office management.
Prior to this assignment, he was in Uzbekistan as ADB country director, a post he had held since 2009.
From 2005 to 2009, Higuchi was director of the Transport and Communications Division of the South Asia Department of ADB, managing ADB’s operations in the transport and communications sectors in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. From 2002 to 2005, he was posted in Kazakhstan as ADB country director.
Higuchi holds a Master of Science degree in construction management from Loughborough University of Technology, UK, and a Bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Tokyo Metropolitan University, Japan.
ADR in banks continues to fall
Six BASIC Bank officials suspended
Six high officials of BASIC Bank were suspended yesterday on charges of irregularities.
However, the officials pointed at others inside the bank for the irregularities.
“Everybody, from officials inside the bank to the central bank, knows about the irregularities and the loans that were given out that even the branches opposed to,” said one of six officials suspended, seeking anonymity.
The suspended officials are Monaem Khan, deputy managing director; three general managers -- Zainul Abedin Choudhury, Kh Shamim Hasan and Mohammad Ali; Shipar Ahmed, deputy general manager; and Zahid Hasan, deputy manager.
The officials said they were suspended to protect the actual culprits. The bank has been in the news in the last few years for granting thousands of crores of taka in loans without proper scrutiny and collateral.
Noted citizens reject new Grameen Bank rules
A group of noted citizens yesterday protested the newly scripted rules of picking directors for Grameen Bank, saying the regulations have taken away power from its majority shareholders, the rural women.
They called for unity to protect the interest of the bank's 85 lakh members who own 75 percent shares of the Noble Peace Prize-winning lender, while the rest 25 percent is owned by the government.
Their protest was in response to the Grameen Bank (Election of Directors) Rules 2014 published by the government on April 6.
"The government is plotting to get hold of the Tk 14,000 crore the Grameen Bank members have deposited with the bank," said Rafiqul Islam, a language movement veteran.
"We have to do everything within our means so the government can't do it," he said at a programme organised by the Bangladesh Projonmo Academy, a pro-BNP platform, at the National Press Club in Dhaka.
Islam alleged that the problem related to Grameen Bank is the personal problem of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
Tuhin Malik, a noted lawyer, said the new rules are an attempt to rob the micro-lender in a digitised way.
The rules will disempower the 85 lakh members of Grameen Bank in order to entertain the arrogance of one woman, he said without mentioning the name of the woman.
Sadek Khan, a columnist, said the government is not honouring normal business practices in the world.
"Everywhere in the world, the shareholders pick their board members. But in case of Grameen Bank, the majority shareholders are not being able to do so."
"As a result, the fundamental rights of the shareholders are being violated," he said.
M Munir-uz-Zaman, a former secretary, said: "The rules have been formulated to install hand-picked directors in the board of Grameen Bank."
The new rules have empowered the central bank to organise elections to elect nine members in the 12-member board.