The amount of 'doubtful loan' (DL) in the country's banking sector increased substantially in the July-September period of this year due to the recent scams.

An official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) attributed the rise in the DL to sluggish business activities, especially after the recently detected loan-related irregularities in some public sector banks.

On the other hand, a former BB high official told the FE Sunday that one of the possible causes behind the rise in the DL could be aggressive loan disbursement by the commercial banks without evaluating feasibility properly.

The DL is usually non-performing loans, on which interest is overdue and whose full collection of principal is uncertain.

The amount of the DL increased by Tk 16.25 billion in the third quarter of this calendar year (July-Sept 2012) than that of the previous quarter (April-June).

By the end of this September, the total DL in the banking sector was Tk 51.78 billion or 1.25 per cent of the total outstanding loans. The amount was Tk 35.535 billion or 0.88 per cent of the total loans in June.

According to the BB statistics, the four state-owned commercial banks and two specialised banks saw the highest increase in the DL in the third quarter. Of them, Sonali Bank Limited topped the list.

The total DL at Sonali Bank stood at Tk 10.78 billion or 3.27 of the total loans in September, which was Tk 4.23 billion in June.

The BB high officials said the amount of DL has increased significantly because of the recent Hall-Mark incident and poor loan recovery rate.

The DL of Janata Bank Limited and Agrani Bank Limited stood at Tk 3.22 billion or 1.20 per cent and Tk 4.02 billion or 2.07 per cent respectively by the end of September.

News: The Daily Financial Express/Bangladesh/3rd-Dec-12

The visiting World Bank (WB) probe panel members entering the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) head office in the city Sunday.

If the ongoing investigation into the alleged corruption in the Padma bridge project appears to be maintaining the international standard in the eyes of the World Bank, the financing from the international lender will take place simultaneously, Finance Minister AMA Muhith said on Sunday.

He made the comment after meeting the panel of experts from the World Bank at his Secretariat office.

"The WB now observes whether the process of Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in investigating the alleged corruption charges is effective or not. If the moves are on the right track, the WB has no problem in financing even in the middle of the investigation," the minister elaborated.

Mr Muhith was talking to reporters after meeting with the WB panel of experts.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's Adviser Dr. Gowher Rizvi, who attended the meeting with the WB, said everything was on the right track in implementing the Padma bridge project with donors' fund.

"The WB has no problem in disbursing their promised fund for the Padma project if they are satisfied with the developments and process of investigation into the alleged corruption," Mr Rizvi told reporters.

News: The Daily Financial Express/Bangladesh/3rd-Dec-12

The World Bank (WB) made its position clear again on Sunday about its funding for Padma Bridge project to depend largely on substantial progress in the inquiry by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) into the allegations of graft relating to selection of its consultant.

"The external panel is here and one of their jobs is to assess whether they (ACC) have made sufficient progress in carrying forward effectively the investigation process. If they make sufficient progress, then we can be hopeful about the beginning of the construction of the bridge," WB Country Director Ellen Goldstein told reporters Sunday after the Bank's external panel had a meeting with the Commission.

A three-member external panel of the WB, led by former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Luis Moreno Ocampo, reached Dhaka last Saturday for the second time in less then two months' time only to find out the progress made by the ACC in its inquiry into the allegations of corruption relating to this major infrastructure project.

Two other members of the team are: Timothy Tong, former commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, People's Republic of China, and Richard Alderman, former director of the UK Serious Fraud Office.

The panel of internationally recognised experts went to the ACC headquarters at about 3:10pm and held a meeting with the high-ups of the commission that lasted for nearly 90 minutes.

The WB country director said free and fair investigation into the alleged corruption was a critical step to facilitate the go-ahead with the construction of bridge.

"We're encouraged by the developments so far, we expect to have more meetings in the next three or four days and if there is sufficient progress, then we would be hopeful about the building the bridge," she said.

About the recent meeting of co-financiers of the US$2.9 billion project in Manila, she said this was a preliminary discussion to determine how to revive the implementation arrangements for the project, in the event of sufficient progress being made in the matter of investigation into alleged corruption, prior to taking effective moves to go ahead with the construction.

Replying to a question, the chief of the WB's country director in Dhaka said, "It is the ACC that has to take action and it is in their hand to take action in order to make the bridge into a reality."

Legal adviser of the ACC Anisul Haque said the WB panel asked the watchdog body to strengthen and expedite its ongoing inquiry process.

News: The Daily Financial Express/Bangladesh/3rd-Dec-12

China's small banks are intensifying their efforts to attract funds in the hope of preventing the current cash crunch from developing into a failure to meet upcoming new capital rules that require higher money reserves.

According to Shanghai-based financial data provider Wind Information, by the end of November, financial bonds launched or planned to be launched by small Chinese-funded banks had accumulated to 38.07 billion yuan (6.05 billion U.S. dollars) since the beginning of 2012, nearly 50 percent higher than the figure for 2011.

In the past week, Huarong Xiangjiang Bank announced a sale of subordinated debts worth up to 1.5 billion yuan in a bid to raise its core capital adequacy ratio. There followed announcements by Zhejiang Tailong Commercial Bank and Bank of Dongguan of similar plans worth up to 3.5 billion yuan and one billion yuan, respectively.

The moves come after a new banking capital regulation that is set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2013, in accordance with Basel III rules formulated in 2010 by G20 countries.

According to the regulation stipulated by the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) in June, the core capital adequacy ratio for "systematically important banks" should reach a minimum of 9.5 percent before the end of 2013.

Other banks, including small banks, have been obligated to raise their core capital to no lower than 8.5 percent of their total assets by the end of 2016.

News: The Daily Independent/Bangladesh/3rd-Dec-12

Bangladesh incurs 1.81 percent of GDP loss annually due to extreme weather events and over the period of 1962-1988, the country lost about 0.5 million tonnes of rice annually for floods, which accounts for nearly 30 percent of country’s annual food grain imports.

Since 1970, the country has experienced 36 cyclonic storms resulting on over 450,000 deaths and immeasurable economic losses.

Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atour Rahman made the observations while speaking at the ongoing UN Climate Change Conference– CoP-18 (Conference of the Parties) at Ezdan Hotel Conference Centre in Qatar Sunday.

Speaking at the conference, Atiur said Bangladesh falls into the group of most climate change vulnerable countries in the world despite her insignificant share of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emission in comparison with other developing and developed countries.

According to Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Bangladesh will be among the worst victims of climate change as its sea level is apprehended to rise due to escalating atmospheric temperature.

Mentioning that frequency of cyclone-storms is projected to increase, forcing millions of people to migrate, he said food and energy security will be threatened leading to rise in diseases and frequency of natural calamities. Besides, high density of population will make the problem worse.

Bangladesh will have to tackle these challenges despite the fact that her global share of GHG is only 0.25 percent in Bangladesh in comparison with 5.78 percent in India, 23.33 percent in China, 18.11 percent in USA and 14.04 percent in the EU, said Atiur.

The BB chief exchanged views with the central bank chief in Qatar on climate change issues and Bangladesh Bank’s green banking activities and various banking issues to strengthen Bangladesh’s banking sector.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) recognised the special needs of developing countries, particularly those highly vulnerable to climate change.

According to UN Article 4.4, developed countries are to assist developing countries vulnerable to climate change in meeting costs of adaptation. Article 4.9 attaches special priority to LDCs in relation to funding, which includes funding for adaptation.

Cyclone Sidr in 2007 caused 3,406 deaths. Over 55,000 people sustaining physical injuries. 273,000 homes were destroyed and more than 900,000 were damaged. 855,000 acres of crops were damaged and nearly 30,000 acres were completely destroyed, he referred.

243,000 houses were completely destroyed and over 373,000 were partially damaged and more than 7,103 people were wounded and more than 3,928,238 people were affected by the cyclone Aila in 2009.

Almost 80 percent of the total area of the country is prone to flooding. South and South-eastern parts of the country were hit by tropical cyclones during the last few years.

Almost the whole coastal belt along the Bay of Bengal is experiencing salinity problem. North and North-western regions of the country are suffering from extreme temperature problem.

Around 75 percent area of mangrove forest, Sundarban (60007 Sq. km) will submerse if the sea level increases 45 cm. If the sea level rise 1 m then the islands of Bay of Bengal and whole Sundarban will be destroyed, said Atiur.

Bangladesh, as a LDC, is not obligated to mitigate or reduce GHG emission (in UNFCCC negotiation terms). However, the government considered to maintain a low carbon development path. Bangladesh has made notable contribution towards establishing 'Green Climate Fund' and extending 'Second Commitment Period of Kyoto Protocol'. ‘Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan, 2009 has been drawn out to tackle challenges of climate change. 'Climate Change Trust Act, 2010' has been enacted.

Bangladesh government has already invested $ 10 billion over the last three decades to make the country’s climate resilient and less vulnerable to disasters. Over the past three fiscal years (FY10 to FY12), the government has allocated $ 300 million (USD 100 million every year), for projects largely focused on adaptation. Another Fund called Bangladesh Climate Change Resilience Fund (BCCRF) has been established in 2010 with funds provided by the development partners, Dr Atiur said.

Besides, the central bank of Bangladesh is actively responding to climate change through policy formulation and implementation for green banking, creation of refinance programmes for financing environment-friendly projects through banks and financial institutions and ensuring environment friendly business practices in the financial sector through adaptation of automation and digitization.

News: The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/3rd-Dec-12