Al-Arafah Islami Bank Limited opened the Hajj booth for the pilgrims at Ashkona Hajj Camp at Uttara in Dhaka recently.

Md Habibur Rahman, Managing Director of the bank, inaugurated the booth and distributed gifts among the pilgrims as chief guest, said a press release.

Hajj officer ofthe Ministry of Religious Affairs Bazlul Haque Biswas addressed the audience as special guest.

Senior Vice President Md Abul Hossain presided over the inauguration while Assistant Vice President CGM Asaduzzaman delivered the welcome speech.

Senior Vice President Md Nazmus Saadat and Assistant Vice President Jalal Ahmed attended the function.

Bangladesh Bank has asked Brac Bank to apprise the steps the commercial bank taken to prevent the fraudulence allegedly took place with bKash service.

A letter was served to the private bank on August 29, seeking information on the preventive measures against alleged cheating in its mobile money transfer service.

The measures would be intended to protect bKash agents and recharge vendors from frauds and to recover swindled money from bKash agent accounts by Thursday next.

Allegations of swindling were mentioned in the central bank’s letter including those of Farid Traders of Thataribazar, Dhaka and Rangamati Computer and Telecom Business Owners’ Welfare Association.

Bangladesh Bank asked for Brac Bank’s statement in respect of these allegations against bKash service.

According to one allegation, bKash agent Farid Traders had Tk293,000 in its account after transactions till 5:20pm on March 25. At 5:21pm, the agent saw the SIM became deactivated.

After contacting the respective mobile operator instantly, the agent came to know that the SIM registration was shown failed and the replacement SIM was drawn already. Farid immediately informed bKash about the matter and asked to block the account.

But bKash authorities failed to block the account immediately and Farid found all the money was vanished from the account in just five minutes.

Besides, Rangamati Computer and Telecom Business Owners’ Welfare Associationcame with allegation that money were being stolen from agent accounts by using secret code.

The Association sent a letter to Bangladesh Bank urging to save bKash agents from losing their business capital to the frauds. The letter signed by the Association’s president Abdur Rahim called for legal initiative in this regard.

The Association alleged bKash authorities just send alert massages and avoid responsibilities in the case money stealing by frauds from accounts. 

According to it, the agents do not gethelp in the case of cheating from the local distributors appointed by bKash, and even the frauds caught by agents get freed from police.

The letter said the agents now suspect bKash itself is involved with the fraudulent activities. 

Meanwhile, the central bank last week issued a notice tightening policy on mobile financial services after incidents of fraudulences occurred in mobile money transfer.

The notice cited some persons were making financial transactions and transferring funds without having any mobile account, which violates mobile financial services the guidelines on for banks.

The Bangladesh Bank has differed with a government plan to set up Palli Sanchay Bank, a new specialised institution like the Grameen Bank, saying such financial institutions established earlier have failed to achieve their objectives.

An official at the Bank and Financial Institutions Division said three such specialised banks – Ansar-VDP Unnayan Bank, Probashi Kallyan Bank and Karmasangsthan Bank – had been established with a view to increasing cash flow for the development of rural people, but they had failed.

When the Grameen Bank board failed to appoint a managing director because of the opposition from the bank’s nine female directors in the beginning of this year, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said a specialised bank like the Grameen Bank would be set up.

Bangladesh Bank General Manager KM Abdul Wadud last week sent a letter to Banking Secretary M Aslam Alam, conveying opinions of the central bank and other stakeholders on setting up of the new specialised bank.

Styled Palli Sanchay Bank, the proposed financial institution has been planned under the government’s “Ekti Bari Ekti Khamar” – one home, one farm – project to give the scheme a permanent shape. Members of the project and the government will be the proposed bank’s shareholders.

The bank’s board of directors will include representatives of the project members and the government, but only the shareholders will be entitled to enjoy corporate benefits such as profit or dividend.

In its letter, the Bangladesh Bank said the proposal that the Palli Sanchay Bank would not operate under the central bank and yet would take loans from the central bank would create indiscipline in the financial sector.

Also, the proposal that the MD and the board of directors of the bank would be appointed with approval of the Bangladesh Bank was inconsistent with the proposition that the bank would not be governed by the central bank, it said.

The proposal says the bank will have services such as online banking, credit card, ready cash, bond, share and debenture, and will also facilitate foreign trade to increase the confidence of the under-privileged people.

The central bank said all these were the activities of commercial banks, which were done under the Bank Company Act and monitored by the central bank.

The draft will be submitted to the cabinet for approval after receiving opinions from the stakeholders.

According to the draft, the members of the project now have Tk13.32bn in a savings account of the project. After the Palli Sanchay Bank is set up, the members will have separate savings accounts for making transactions, said Project Director Prosanta Kumar Roy, who is also joint secretary of the LGRD and cooperatives ministry.

The bank would not, however, provide any credit facility. “It will offer savings and other deposit services, in addition to remittance services,” he said.

The “Ekti Bari Ekti Khamar” project was launched in 2009, aiming to set up a farm at every house to create income and livelihood for rural people by combining human resources with micro-savings.

As the first phase of the project ended in June and the next started the following month, the local government and rural development (LGRD) and cooperatives ministry prepared the draft, outlining the formation of the Palli Sanchay Bank.

The project has so far included 1m families and the draft on the bank proposes increasing the number to 2.5m by the end of the second phase in June 2016.

The main objectives of the bank include making every house in a village a centre of income generation through maximum utilisation of natural and human resources, encouraging micro-savings and providing credit with soft service charges.

Tahsina Khatun, one of the nine female directors of the Grameen Bank, said they did not know anything about the government plan of setting up a specialised bank. She said by the move the government would “steal” the Grameen Bank.

She also said they would raise the issue at their board, asking if the government could set up a bank in the fashion of the Grameen Bank.

Former Bangladesh Bank governor Dr Salehuddin Ahmed said there was no need for another specialised bank since different NGOs, especially Grameen Bank and Brac Bank, had already been providing loans to people in rural areas.

The number of branches of the existing commercial banks should be increased to help rural areas develop, he pointed out; the specialised banks in rural areas also needed to increase their capacity.

He said: “I do not think the government has conducted any survey on setting up a new specialised bank in rural areas.”

NCC Bank Limited has been awarded as Best Support Service Providers for its contribution towards the

betterment of expatriate Bangladeshis’ living and channeling remittances to the country, says a press release.
Dr. Atiur Rahman, Governor,

Bangladesh Bank handed over the crest to Mohammed Nurul Amin, Managing Director and CEO of NCC Bank at a function organised by Centre for Non Resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) at Sonargaon Hotel, Dhaka on Saturday.

Dan W Mozena, US Ambassador, was present in the function as special guest. Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed,

President, FBCCI, M Sabur Khan, President, DCCI, Shahjalal Mazumder, President BAIRA and MS Shekil Chowdhury, Chairperson, Centre for NRB also attended the function.

Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited has been awarded Gold Medel for outstanding performance in Remittance Services, says a press release.

Dr. Atiur Rahman, Governor, Bangladesh Bank handed over the medal to Mohammad Abdul Mannan,

Managing Director of the Bank at a function organised by Centre for Non Resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) at Sonargaon Hotel, Dhaka on August 17, 2013.

Dan W Mozena, US Ambassador, was present in the function as special guest.

Presided over by MS Shekil Chowdhury, Chairperson, Centre for Non Resident Bangladeshis, the function was attended by Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed,

President, Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI), Nurul Amin, President, Association of Banks Bangladesh,

M Sabur Khan, President, Dhaka Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DCCI) and Shahjalal Mazumder, President BAIRA, along with diplomates of different countries.