Hassan O Rashid, Head of SME Banking of Standard Chartered Bank, hands over the first SME collateral free Business Instalment Loan (BIL) to Mahbub Iqbal, Managing Director of AS Knitting Ltd in Dhaka recently.

Standard Chartered Bank has launched collateral free Business Instalment Loan scheme.

Under the scheme, the Bank would provide collateral free Business Instalment Loan up to Tk 10 million for Small and Medium Enterprises. The customers would be able to apply for the loan at any of the 26 branches and 17 kiosks of the Bank, said a press release.

“We remain committed to the development of SMEs by continuously addressing the entrepreneurs’ changing financial needs,” Hassan O Rashid, General Manager, SME Banking of Standard Chartered Bank said.

“During last 8 years in SME banking, we have brought many innovations, especially for small business segment. We are committed to help entrepreneurs achieve desired progress in all sectors and through efforts like this, we want to show that we are here for good cause”, he added.

The first loan was sanctioned to AS Knitting Limited, a knit manufacturer unit operating in the country since 2002.

Mahbub Iqbal, Managing Director of AS Knitting Limited said, “The loan offering was exactly what my company needed for its expansion and the fact that no cash or property security is required to avail this loan, which is its main feature”.

News: The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/19-Sep-12

Md Alamgir Mia, General Manager of Dhaka north divisional office of Janata Bank, speaks at a review meeting in Dhaka recently.

The state-owned Janata Bank Limited organised a review meeting on classified loan at north divisional office of the Bank in Dhaka recently.

Md Alamgir Mia, General Manager of the divisional office presided over the meeting, said a pres release.

Md Siddiqur Rahman, Md Mosharraf Hossain, deputy managing directors of the Bank attended at the meeting.

Deputy general managers, assistant general managers and branch chiefs were present at the meeting.

The participants at the meeting discussed various issues relating to recovery of classified loans.

News: The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/19-Sep-12

WASHINGTON: The International Monetary Fund acknowledged on Monday it faced "serious challenges" in designing bailout programs for troubled euro zone countries mainly because it was restricted by the rules of the 17-member currency zone.

Analysts and some IMF member countries have expressed concern that the Fund has compromised on tough conditions in its bailouts in Europe where it has been part of a "troika" of international lenders in Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

But the IMF preliminary assessment found that the Fund actually had to impose extensive structural conditions on euro zone countries-where deep labor and market reforms were needed-compared to programs elsewhere.

"While it is difficult to judge whether all the conditions were critical, the increase in the number and depth of (Euro Area) conditions warrants scrutiny," according to the review, which analyzed conditions attached to 159 IMF programs in the decade to September 2011.

Greece for one has struggled to stay on track with the terms of its IMF-European Union bailout after a deeper-than-expected recession and political challenges.

The IMF said extensive reforms and large loans to the euro zone were necessary because of the systemic risks in the region, such as the spreading of the euro debt crisis to more countries.

However, the IMF needs to develop better tools to assess this risk of contagion, said Ranil Salgado, division chief of the IMF's Strategy Policy and Review Department.

News: The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/19-Sep-12

The country's interest matters more than that of an individual, former caretaker government adviser Akbar Ali Khan said yesterday.

He was talking about the reported 'leave' of Prime Minister's Economic Affairs Adviser Mashiur Rahman.

“A person does not matter more than the country,” Khan said.

An individual should not be a barrier in construction of the Padma bridge as it is necessary for Bangladesh, he said.

Khan spoke to a group of reporters after a regular meeting of the American Chamber of Commerce in Bangladesh (AmCham) at Ruposhi Bangla Hotel in Dhaka.

The government must convince the World Bank to release the Padma bridge fund for the sake of the nation, Khan said.

“The government's efforts to get the Padma bridge fund from the WB are in right direction."

“But the government should also notice whether those measures are adequate for getting the loan,” Khan said.

Earlier in June, the WB cancelled its $1.2 billion loan deal citing "corruption conspiracy" in the Padma Bridge project and set three conditions for revival of the loan deal.

Khan said the 'corruption conspiracy' allegation raised by the WB was right because 'conspiracy' is an offence according to Bangladesh's laws.

The WB has cancelled loan agreements not only with Bangladesh, but also with other countries like India, on the ground of corruption, he said.

Speaking on development and governance, Khan identified four major reasons for corruption.

The four reasons are failure of incentives within the government machinery, over-centralisation of government which encourages the delayed decision, discontinuation of policies and, finally, under-reformed judicial system.

“There are some organisations, which you cannot reform through training. You have to write off those organisations,” the economist said without naming such corrupt organisations.

Given the current political situation, people are very angry and this is the final stage of political development. “I am saying this because people are asking about the third option in the political development.”

In spite of such a bad situation of governance, the country is developing economically which he cited as a puzzle. He also said at the low level of development, governance is not as important as when it goes to mid level.

Khan credited four specific reasons including encouragement of garment sector, inflow of remittance, encouragement to the private sector entrepreneurs and building up rural infrastructure for economic development.

Aftab ul Islam, AmCham president, said people are fed up with the current governance and the incidents of hiding, fear, threat and suspension are regularly taking place in the country.

News: The Daily Star/Bangladesh/19-Sep-12

Andrew Tilke, chief executive officer of HSBC Bangladesh, hands over the papers of a deal to Rokia Afzal Rahman, former caretaker government adviser, at a ceremony in the capital yesterday in presence of Hasibur Rahman, executive director of MRDI, and Hedaitul Islam Helal, team leader at Green World Communications. MRDI will use CSR funds to alleviate poverty.

HSBC, MRDI, and Green World Communication Ltd will work together using corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds for an alternative social development support to address poverty, MRDI said in a statement yesterday.

Management and Resources Development Initiative (MRDI) will use the funds to address the crisis of safe drinking water, protect the Sundarbans from pollution and facilitate better livelihood for more than 2,500 poverty-prone people of village Dhengmari.

The project includes pond digging with provision of filtering system, rainwater harvesting plant, distribution of eco-friendly stoves, skills training for women and sapling distribution.

Rokia Afzal Rahman, former adviser to the caretaker government, said the agreement will pave the way for success of CSR in complementing the government's social development efforts and achieving millennium development goals.

She termed it an important step to building partnership between corporate and civil society organisations for

optimum utilisation of CSR funds in development.

Andrew Tilke, chief executive officer of HSBC Bangladesh, said they were helping the community help themselves rather than provide direct support.

MRDI advocates programmes for establishing CSR as an alternative deve-lopment fund which to benefit society at large and take CSR programmes forward to build a caring society, MRDI's

Executive Director Hasibur Rahman said.

The initiative aims at securing life and health of the vulnerable people of remote village Dhengmari of Sundarbans, said Hedaitul Islam Helal, team leader of Green World Communication Ltd.

Andrew Tilke, Hasibur Rahman and Hedaitul Islam Helal signed the agreement on behalf of their organisations.

News: The Daily Star/Bangladesh/19-Sep-12