All major branches of the state-owned and private commercial banks in district and divisional towns will remain open Saturday across the country.

Bangladesh Bank (BB) has issued a circular in this regard to facilitate payment of income tax by pay orders and treasury challans following a request from the NBR, said a press release Thursday.

News: Daily Sun/Bangladesh/28-Sep-12

Dutch-Bangla Bank Lim- ited (DBBL) Wednesday signed an agreement on Mobile Banking Services with Anjuman Mufidul Islam (AMI).

The organisations signed the agreement for collecting fund from the donors, both local and foreign, through mobile banking, said a press release.

Md Shamsul Haque Chishty, President of Anjuman Mufidul Islam and K S Tabrez, Managing Director of DBBL signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations at the Head Office of the bank.

Md Azim Buksh, Chairman of Media, Publication and Branch Affairs Committee and Syed Jaglul Pasha, life member of Anjuman Mufidul Islam, Abul Kashem, Md. Shirin and Md Sayedul Hasan, Deputy Managing Directors of DBBL attended the signing ceremony.

As per the agreement, Anjuman Mufidul Islam will be able to collect funds through DBBL’s Mobile Banking account and will get opportunity of banking with a bank.

News: Daily Sun/Bangladesh/28-Sep-12

The initial subscription of Mutual Trust Bank (MTB) Unit Fund will expire Sunday. After expiry of the period, the units will be traded at NAV (net asset value) related prices, sources said.

MTB Unit with an initial size of Tk 1 billion, is an open-ended fund of face value of Tk 10 per unit. Mutual Trust Bank Limited has provided Tk 200 million as sponsor of the fund.

Bangladesh General Insurance Company Limited is the trustee of the fund, while BRAC Bank Limited is its custodian and Alliance Capital Asset Management Limited is asset manager.

MTB Unit Fund, managed by a team of professionals, has entered into the market at a time when the DSE market PE ratio is comparatively low, market sources said.

News: Daily Sun/Bangladesh/28-Sep-12

Michael Zink, Citi head of Asean and Citi country officer for Singapore, will visit Dhaka for two days from September 29, the bank said in a statement yesterday.

Zink will review business opportunities with senior Citi Bangladesh executives and meet key clients during the visit. He will also launch a global internal health and wellness programme, 'Live Well at Citi', designed to encourage employees to adopt a healthy lifestyle.

He will also attend the final award presentation ceremony for the Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards programme, in its seventh year, and unveil two new community projects.

A 24-year Citi veteran, Zink began his career in New York and has held various senior corporate banking and executive management roles for Citi in Africa, Russia and Asia.

News: The Daily Star/Bangladesh/27-Sep-12

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) will keep tax offices open on Saturday to give payers one more day to submit returns.

The NBR also urged Bangladesh Bank to keep the major branches of all banks open in divisional cities and district towns.

The move comes as the deadline for tax return submission ends on September 30 while many taxpayers are yet to submit returns facing difficulties in finding their respective tax circles.

Taxpayers faced troubles after the NBR expanded its tax circles to 649 from 303 by increasing its zones to drive more people into the tax net.

"We are sympathetic to the problems of taxpayers. That's why, we have asked offices to remain open on Saturday," said MA Quader Sarker, member in charge of NBR's tax administration and monitoring.

The tax offices will remain open from 9am to 5pm on Saturday. The offices will also stay open until the evening of September 30.

News: The Daily Star/Bangladesh/27-Sep-12