Bangladesh Bank has issued show-cause notices to 21 scheduled banks to explain why they failed to settle their foreign bills in due time against letters of credit in line with the central bank’s directives.
A BB official told New Age on Thursday that the central bank had served the notices on the banks on April 7, asking them to reply to the notices by April 17, 2014.
The BB earlier issued a circular saying that it would impose financial penalty against the banks which would fail to make payments to foreign parties against LCs in time, he said.
The country’s business image is being tarnished due to the large overdue position in the foreign bill as it is reported globally when a bank fails to pay against an LC on maturity, the official said.
The BB had earlier asked the banks several times to settle their overdue foreign and local bill against LCs, but the banks neglected the central bank’s directives, he said.
The 21 banks which got the BB’s show-cause notices are: Al-Arafah Islami Bank, Agrani_Bank, Bank Asia, BASIC Bank, Bangladesh Krishi Bank, Dhaka Bank, Dutch-Bangla Bank, IFIC Bank, Islami Bank Bangladesh, Janata Bank, Jamuna Bank, National Bank of Pakistan, National Bank, ONE Bank, Premier Bank, Prime Bank, Pubali Bank, Rupali Bank, shahjalal Bank, Sonali Bank and Standard Bank.
Due to the overdue acceptance bills in foreign LCs, the country is now bearing extra cost in LC confirmation charges.
The LC confirmation charge is imposed when an exporter’s (foreign party) bank wants security in receiving payments under the LC.
Accordingly, an importer’s (local party) bank approaches international banks such as HSBC, Standard Chartered or Citibank NA, to provide guarantee to the exporter’s bank about the payments.
And, these banks impose a charge, which is called LC or ad confirmation fee. This is also called a ‘risk fee’ taken by the confirming bank.
The LC confirmation charge depends on some factors, mainly the country risk and the reputation and strength of the issuing bank. It is also called commitment fee and it varies from bank to bank.
Presently, banks charge 1.5 per cent to 2 per cent of LC value as confirmation fee, meaning a local importer has to pay $2 million to another bank as LC confirmation fee against an import of $100 million worth of goods.
‘It should be 0.5 per cent of LC value, especially after Bangladesh coming out of the grey list of Financial Action Task Force’, the BB official said.
The international credit rating agencies like Standard and Poor’s, Moody’s is considering the banking performance about the capacity of settling the foreign bills when they conduct the sovereign rating for any country.
So, the country’s overdue position in foreign bill will put an adverse impact on its upcoming sovereign rating.
Banking
Dutch-BangIa Bank donated addl Tk. 15.00 cr to DAM
Dutch-BangIa Bank donated further Tk15.00 crore to Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM) to meet up the cost of 2nd, 3rd and 4th floors measuring a total of 1,02,175 sft the country’s biggest cancer hospital – Ahsania Mission Cancer & General Hospital (AMCGH) Complex, at Uttara, Dhaka. The Honorable Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, on Wednesday inaugurated the newly constructed 500-bed Hospital, ushering in a new horizon for the treatment of cancer patients in the country, reports in a press release.
The Chairman of Dutch-BangIa Bank Mr. Sayem Ahmed handed over the Cheque through Hon’ble Prime Minister, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh on the Inauguration Program of the Hospital held on April 9, 2014. The Prime Minister on receiving the cheque whole-heartedly thanked the &ct of financial assistance.
Mentionable here, Dutch-BangIa Bank in the year 2004 made a historic donation of Tk4.00 crore for the hospital which acted as good booster. Mr. M. Sahabuddin Ahmed, Founder of Dutch-BangIa Bank inaugurated the 1st phase of the construction work of the Hospital Building on July 17, 2005.
Health and family Welfare Minister Mohammed Nasim, Social Welfare Minister Syed Mohsin Ali, Advocate Sahara Khatun MP, Trustee Board Chairman of Ahsania Mission Cancer & General Hospital eminent lawyer Barister Rafuq-ul-Haque, and President of Dhaka Ahsania Mission Kazi Rafiqul Alam spoke on the occasion. Advisor of the Hospital Syeda Dina Haque delivered the welcome address.
The Ahsania Mission Cancer & General Hospital will run on ‘no-loss-no-profit basis’ aiming at providing the modern quality treatment specially for cancer affected patients where a minimum of
30% of the services will be made available to the poor patients at free of cost.
FOREIGN BILLS AGAINST LCS: BB asks 21 banks to explain failure to settle bills in time
Harmuz Mia promoted to GM of Agrani Bank
Md. Harmuz Mia was recently promoted to General Manager of Agrani Bank Limited and joined office in Mymensingh circle.
Prior to new post, he served as DGM Ramna Corporate Branch in Dhaka. He also served in different corporate branches in Dhaka, circles, zones and divisions, said a press release.
After completing graduation with Honours and Master’s degree in Applied Physics and Electronics from the University of Dhaka, he achieved several degrees in banking like Banking Diploma, Business Administration, Personnel Management and Foreign Exchange Related Finance in International Trade.
He also participates in different training programmes, seminars and symposiums at home and abroad. He started his banking career in 1986 as senior officer.
News:Daily Sun/15-Apr-2014Standard Bank holds board meeting
Standard Bank Limited organized its 222nd board meeting at the bank’s head office on Saturday.
Chairman of the Board of Directors of the bank Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed presided over the meeting, said a press release.
Managing Director Md. Nazmus Salehin, DMD and Group Company Secretary AFM Nizamul Islam Chowdhury and DMD Mamun-Ur-Rashid were also present.
Union Bank signs deal with Hotel The Cox Today
corporate agreement was singed between Union Bank Ltd and Hotel The Cox Today at the head office of the bank recently.
Abdul Kader, Head of PRD, Union Bank Ltd and Mohiuddin Khan Khokon, Director, Sales and Marketing of Hotel The Cox Today signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides, said a press release.
S.A.M. Salimullah, SEVP, Abdul Hannan Khan, Company Secretary and Senior Assistant Manager, Sales and Marketing, Hotel The Cox Today, ASM Humayun Kabir Chowdhury and other officers of both the organizations were present on the occasion.