Md. Habibur Rahman, Managing Director of Al-Arafah Islami Bank Limited, speaks at a discussion on ‘Ramjan O Noitikota’ at Motijheel in Dhaka recently. 

Al-Arafah Islami Bank Limited, Motijheel branch, organised a discussion meeting on ‘Ramjan O Noitikota’ followed by an Iftar Mahfil recently.

Md. Habibur Rahman, Managing Director of the bank was present in the meeting as the chief guest, said a press release on Saturday.

Founder chairman AZM Shamsul Alam, directors of the bank Abdul Malek Mollah and Engr. Kh. Mesbah Uddin Ahmed were present on the occasion.

Moulana Muhammad Kafiluddin Sarkar Salehi, Principal, Dhaka Nesaria Kamil Madrasa and Md. Abdur Rahim Khan, Secretary, AIBL Shariah Supervisory Committee discussed the main topic in the meeting.

Among others, Deputy Managing Directors Md. Mofazzal Hossain, Kazi Touhidul Alam and Md. Golam Rabbani were present on the occasion. 

SM Shamsul Alam has recently been reappointed as managing director of Premier Leasing and Finance Ltd.Before joining Premier Leasing in 2010,

was the deputy managing director of NCC Bank and Premier Bank, the company said in a statement yesterday.

He started his banking career in 1977 as deputy chief accountant in Sonali Bank. Alam also worked for Islami Bank Bangladesh, National Bank,

Prime Bank, Bank Asia, NCC Bank and Premier Bank in different capacities.He has been the

representative of National Bank in Myanmar. Alam completed his BSc and BEd under Dhaka University and later did his post graduation in finance and banking from Rajshahi University.He is also a Diplomaed

Associate of the Institute of Bankers Bangladesh, according to the statement.He is a distinguished external member of committee of courses of finance and banking department of Rajshahi University.

Bangladesh Bank (BB)is going to announce agriculture loan policy on July 23 with a target to disburse Taka 14,595 crore for fiscal year 2013-14.

BB Governor Dr Atiur Rahman will announce the policy to give banks a guideline to reach farm credit to farmers properly and timely, a BB official told BSS.

Besides attaching priority to major crops, fisheries and livestock, the central bank is going to include some new items such as producing vermicompost fertilizer and orange farming in the loan policy.

The banks will be instructed to disburse farm loan through Taka-10 farmers’ account in order to increase the transparency in agriculture loan programmes.

Farmers will be able to seek BB’s help by dialing telephone No. 16236, if they face any problem about getting loans from banks

According to BB data, banks had collectively disbursed Taka 14, 667 crore, up by Taka 537 crore, against the target of Taka 14,130 crore in the just concluded financial year of 2012-13.

We’ve exceeded the disbursement target in the just concluded fiscal year . . . it is a record in history of disbursement of farm credit,” said the official. —BSS

Commerce Minister GM Quader speaks at a discussion on ''Role of Ramadan in Attaining Taq'wa'' as chief guest at a hotel in Dhaka on Tuesday.

Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited organised a discussion on ''Role of Ramadan in Attaining Taq'wa'' and held an iftar mahfil at a hotel in Dhaka on Tuesday.

Commerce Minister GM Quader was present in the function as chief guest while Engr. Md. Eskander Ali Khan, Chairman, Executive Committee of the bank presided over the meeting, said a press release.

Mohammad Abdul Mannan, Managing Director of the bank also spoke. Dr. Md. Manzur-e-Elahi, Assistant Professor, National University and member,

Shari'ah Supervisory Committee of the bank presented keynote paper at the discussion while Mawlana Shah Wali Ullah, Khatib, Sobhanbag Jam'e mosque discussed on the topic.

State-run BASIC Bank on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding with Bangladesh Bank in line with central bank directions.

A senior BB official told New Age that BASIC Bank had sent a letter on the day with signing copy of the MoU.
He said thehad  BB issued an ultimatum to BASIC Bank to sign the deal within July 17 in a bid to improve the bank’s performance.

The BB sent a copy of the proposed MoU to BASIC Bank on June 18 asking it to sign the deal within July 7. BASIC Bank, however, failed to sign the MoU within the deadline.

The central bank has taken the initiative when BASIC Bank is facing huge criticism from different angels due to its financial scams that occurred with some of its branches, he said.

According to the MoU, the central bank attached

 
26 conditions with the deal including defaulted loan, required capital, single borrower exposure limit and loan sanctioning.
The bank’s defaulted loans will have to be reduced to 5 per cent of the total loan by December 2013 from the existing 17 per cent 

while its credit growth should not exceed 10 per cent annually and 2.5 per cent quarterly.
The BB in its MoU asked BASIC Bank to make reporting to the central bank about sanctioning of any loan of over Tk 10 crore.

The BB restricted the single borrower exposure limit for BASIC Bank to

 
15 per cent compared with that of 35 per cent for other banks.

As per requirement of the MoU, BASIC Bank will have to make up its capital shortfall by December this year. The capital shortfall of the bank stood at Tk 104 crore in December 2012.

BASIC Bank will face financial penalty if it fails to control irregularities in loan disbursement or does not follow the central bank’s conditions, the BB official said.

BB executive director Mohammad Naushad Ali Chowdhury confirmed New Age about signing of the MoU on the day.