A new chapter has opened for the supervision of international transactions as the central bank yesterday launched a full-fledged automated system to monitor the country's entire foreign exchange operations.

Bangladesh Bank has built an integrated database, linking all scheduled banks, to receive updated data online on all transactions related to exports, imports and remittances.

The system will help the banking regulator get updated on all letters of credit, back-to-back LCs, inland bill purchases, export receipts, and inward and outward remittances.

“We want to promote paperless banking across the country. The initiative will help us reach the goal,” BB Governor Atiur Rahman said at the launching ceremony at the central bank headquarters in the capital.

He said the digitised system will strengthen on-site and off-site supervision as it has an "electronic dashboard" to analyse data instantly.

The dashboard is a graphical presentation of foreign exchange data and it has four reporting modules such as export, import, inward remittance and outward remittance, said Nazneen Sultana, a deputy governor of the BB.

“We will now get updated on the branch-wise data,” she said.

The governor said the software developed by their own IT officials will also strengthen the monitoring and supervision system of all scheduled banks who will get access to the dashboard without paying any fee.

“It is a CSR (corporate social responsibility) initiative and we have provided passwords to each chief executive of banks.”

So, the chief executives of the banks will now be able to monitor the foreign exchange transactions of all their branches from their head offices, he said.

The system will eliminate manual compilation of periodical transaction data supplied by the commercial banks, said Md Ahsan Ullah, an executive director of the BB. The association of the chief executives of commercial banks hailed the regulator for launching the system.

BB had been lagging behind the commercial banks in various aspects of automation around five-seven years back, said Mohammed Nurul Amin, chairman of the association. “But now the central bank is a pioneer and trend-setter in many cases of digitisation,” said Amin, also the managing director of NCC Bank.

He also urged the central bank to arrange special trainings for the bank officials to help them run the system smoothly. The BB introduced the online export monitoring system in November 2011, while the other three modules for import, inward and outward remittances started functioning from the beginning of this year on a trial basis.

Bangladesh Bank Tuesday introduced Electronic Dash Board (EDB) to monitor all transactions of foreign currencies by banks.

EDB monitoring will be on daily basis to check any irregularity related to foreign currencies.

In this system, officials in the central bank and chief executives of all banks will be able to see the indicators regarding export proceeds, imports status (LC opening and acceptance on inland bills) and inward and outward remittances.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman formally launched the EDB at Jahangir Alam Memorial Hall of the central bank.

“All reporting systems will gradually be online under the mega plan of paperless banking system in the country,” Dr Atiur Rahman said.

He added that online reporting would help both the central bank and banks to perform their services faster, ultimately leading the banking sector to behave prudently.

“The central bank’s objective is to keep the country’s financial system safe and secure from irregularities,” the governor said. Deputy Governor Najneen Sultana presented the features of EDB.

“All branches of central bank across the country will be able to monitor indicators of banks in foreign currency transactions any time,” she said.

Najneen Sultana added that the authorised dealer banks have been asked to upload all fresh data on foreign currency transactions to ensure proper supervision.

BB Executive Director Md Ahsanullah said the new system will prevent incidence like Hall-Mark scam.

Alhaj Mohammad Hasan, Chairman of the EC of the bank, presides over a meeting at the bank's head office in Dhaka recently.

The 519th meeting of the Executive Committee (EC) of Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited (SJIBL) was held at the bank's head office in Dhaka recently.

Alhaj Mohammad Hasan, Chairman of the EC of the bank, presided over the meeting, said a press release.

Alhaj Anwer Hossain Khan, Chairman of the board, Sajjatuz Jumma, Akkas Uddin Mollah, and Md Setaur Rahman, Deputy Managing Directors of the bank, attended the meeting.

Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited (DBBL) commercially launched mobile banking service through Robi network.

The service was launched at the Robi’s corporate office in Dhaka Tuesday.

Dasgupta Asim Kumar, Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank was present as special guest.

Michael Kuehner, CEO and Managing Director of Robi, Rozano Marius Planta, Country Head, Digital Services of Robi, and Sayem Ahmed, Chairman, Executive Committee, KS Tabrez, Managing Director, Abul Kashem Md. Shirin, Deputy Managing Director and Mir Mominul Huq, Head of Mobile Banking Division of DBBL were present at the function.

Subscribers of Robi will now be able to conduct their self-initiated financial transactions like P2P (Send Money), Mobile Top-Up, Merchant Payment, Bill Payment services using their own mobile devices at an affordable cost.