Badiur Rahman, Chairman of Al-Arafah Islami Bank Limited, inaugurates 100th branch of the bank at Al-Jamia Market at Teknaf in Cox’s Bazaar Tuesday.

Al-Arafah Islami Bank Limited has opened its 100th branch at Al-Jamia Market at Teknaf in Cox’s Bazaar Tuesday.

Badiur Rahman, Chairman of the bank inaugurated the branch as chief guest, said a press release. Ekramul Hoque, Managing Director of the bank gave the welcome speech at the function.

Alhajj Khalilur Rahman, Chairman of KDS Group and Chittagong Metropolitan Chember of Commerce and Industries, Mayor of Teknaf Pourasabha Alhaj Mohammad Islam, founder chairman of the bank Alhaj AZM Shamsul Alam, directors Alhaj ANM Yeahea, Alhaj Abus Salam and principal of Al-Jamia Al-Islamia, Teknaf Alhaj Moulana Mufti Kifayat Ullah, also spoke.

News: The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/02-Dec-12

A Rouf Chowdhury, Chairman of Bank Asia Limited, inaugurates 13th founding anniversary of the bank at bank’s Corporate Office in Dhaka recently.

Bank Asia Limited celebrated its 13th founding anniversary with its officials at the bank’s Corporate Office in Dhaka recently.

A Rouf Chowdhury, Chairman of the bank inaugurated the ceremony, said a press release Saturday.

Mohammed Lakiotullah, Vice Chairman, Rumee A Hossain, Director and Chairman of the board of Audit Committee, AM Nurul Islam, Sohana Rouf Chowdhury and Shah Md Nurul Alam, directors and Md Mehmood Husain, President and Managing Director of the bank attended the ceremony.

News: The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/02-Dec-12

 The governor of the United Arab Emirates central bank said Friday it intends to buy the sovereign debt of bailed-out eurozone member Portugal.

“Portugal has taken steps towards recovery. Ireland has successfully overcome the crisis and now the second country to do it in Europe will be Portugal,” Sultan bin Nasser al-Suwaidi was quoted as saying in the Portuguese business daily Diario Economico.

“We therefore have the intention to buy Portuguese sovereign debt.”

Portugal in May 2011 became the third eurozone nation to be tripped up by the debt crisis and seek a sovereign bailout. It received a 78-billion-euro rescue from the EU and IMF after pledging to cut its deficit and implement structural reforms to increase competitiveness.

“I am confident that Europe will overcome the financial crisis,” said Suwaidi, who talked with the newspaper on the sidelines of a conference in the United Arab Emirates.

He added that “like Portugal, Italy is also on the right track.”

In a sign of rising investor confidence in Portugal, the yield on its two-year bonds recently dipped below 4.0 percent on the secondary market.

A number of Portuguese companies have also tapped the bond market in recent months.

News: The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/02-Dec-12

Syed Waseque Md Ali, Deputy Managing Director of First Security Islami Bank Limited and Mofiz Uddin Chowdhury, Managing Director, FAS Finance and Investment Limited, exchange documents after signing an agreement in Dhaka recently.

First Security Islami Bank Limited (FSIBL) signed a corporate agreement with FAS Finance and Investment Limited for Electronic Funds Transfer Network (EFTN) services recently.

Syed Waseque Md. Ali, Deputy Managing Director of the bank and Mofiz Uddin Chowdhury, Managing Director, FAS Finance and Investment Limited signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides, said a press release Saturday.

Kazi Osman Ali, SEVP, Abdul Aziz, EVP and Manager of Dilkusha Branch, VP and Head of Investment of Dilkusha Branch, Shah Mohammad Shoyeb Ali, Head of Marketing and Development Division, Azam Khan, Manager (Operation) of Dilkusha Branch were present.

News: The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/02-Dec-12

Private Commercial Banks (PCBs) have made the highest contributions to the country’s industrial growth by providing the lions share of loans to the sector in the first quarter of the current fiscal.

All banks and financial institutions (FIs) have disbursed a total of Tk 345.54 billion in July-September period of FY 2012-13.

The share of PCBs in industrial credit was as high as 76.23 percent while the stake of state-owned commercial banks (SoCBs), foreign commercial banks (FCBs), specialised banks and financial institutions (FIs) were 8.22 percent, 8.57 percent, 2.93 percent and 3.35 percent respectively.

The central bank data also shows a significant 38.22 percent rise in industrial credit in the first quarter of the FY13 over the same period last fiscal.

During the July-September period of FY13, banks and FIs have disbursed a total of Tk 345.54 billion loans while the loan in the same period last fiscal was Tk 249.99 billion.

Out of total loan amount, the current credit was Tk 248.33 billion and the term loan was Tk 97.20 billion, the BB data shows.

Meanwhile, the amount of outstanding industrial loans recovered by all banks and FIs was Tk 279.31 billion, out of which Tk 197.40 billion was current credit and Tk. 81.91 billion term loans.

The recovery of current credit went up by 32.55 percent to 197.40 billion in July-September period of FY13 compared to Tk 148.93 billion in the corresponding of last fiscal.

In case of outstanding term-loan, the recovery moved higher by 20.26 percent to Tk. 81.91 billion in FY13 compared to Tk 68.10 billion in the same period of FY12. Total recovery of industrial credit in July-September FY12 was Tk. 217.04 billion.

The success rate in industrial loan recovery by PCBs was Tk 75.14 percent, FCBs 11.63 percent, SoCBs 5.93 percent, FIs 4.03 percent and specialised banks 3.27 percent.

However, the central bank data shows a remarkable rise in the overdue industrial credit in the first quarter of current fiscal compared to the same period of last fiscal, signaling the risks of generating more bad loans as these amounts will be required to be classified and provisioned by banks.

In July-September 2011-12, overdue industrial credit amounted to Tk. 138.67 billion, which rose by 9.67 percent to Tk 152.09 billion.

According to the data, about 16.85 percent of the industrial term-loan became overdue while the stake of current credit was 2.64 percent.

Out of total overdue loans, the share was 49.61 percent of PCBs, 36.37 percent of SoCBs, 6.06 percent of FIs, 5.57 of specialised banks and 2.39 percent of FCBs.

News: The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/02-Dec-12