Non-resident Bangladeshis (NRBs) have become one of the major targets for many commercial banks those are desperately looking for expanding their business beyond domestic squire to secure sustainable liquidity position.

Offering many products and services with lucrative return on deposits, remittance and other banking services, the banks are trying to fetch as much business as they can from the expatriate Bangladeshis. The products include different types of savings and investment schemes and bonds.

Many banks have opened exchange houses in different countries to take their services at the doorsteps of the Bangladeshi people living overseas. According to Bangladesh Bank (BB), there are 63 exchanges houses of Bangladeshi banks in different countries when some banks are awaiting BB’s approval to follow the suit.

Besides, some banks are regularly sending their senior executives to the major overseas labour markets to showcase their products and services to the NRBs and bring them in their clienteles’ lists. The bankers are encouraging the NRBs open accounts and send money home through the banking channel.

The countries those are getting major attention from the banks are Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirate (UAE), Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Kingdom and the United States.

“It is good for the country’s economy if banks can get as much deposit as they can from external resources,” former governor and economist Dr Mohammad Farashuddin said.

He said banks are taking many steps besides introducing innovative products and services for NRBs, which would certainly bring a good yield for the country’s economy.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 24th June 2012

M Shahjahan Bhuiyan, Managing Director of UCBL and Alihussain Akberali, Chairman of BSRM Group, exchange documents after signing a term sheet at a hotel in Dhaka recently.

Bangladesh Steel Re-Rolling Mills Limited (BSRM) is going to get Tk 2785.77 million syndicated term loan for its BMRE project.

The company in this regard signed an agreement with United Commercial Bank Limited (UCBL) and 16 financial institutions recently.

UCBL will act as lead arranger for raising the fund for expansion of the production capacity of the company, said a press release.

M Shahjahan Bhuiyan, Managing Director of UCBL and Alihussain Akberali, Chairman of BSRM Group and signatories of respective institutions signed the term sheet on behalf of their respective organisations.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 24th June 2012

The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) ended the week in the red amid price volatility and street protests by the investors while a tense situation prevailed in the market over the legal battle on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s special power of imposing conditions on listed companies.

The market witnessed a downturn over the week as the investors were confused and took a 'wait-and-see' policy since a writ petition challenging the legality of Section 2CC of SEC Ordinance of 1969 was pending with the High Court till Thursday, said a stock broker.

Low participation of institutional investors quickened the downtrend, he added. Groups of retail investors staged demonstration in front of the DSE building throughout the week protesting continuous price falls. They even demanded resignation of Finance Minister AMA Muhith for terming the stock market as ‘evil’ market.

Meanwhile, the High Court on Thursday upheld the regulator’s special power by rejecting all the five writ petitions filed by 24 sponsors and directors of five listed firms challenging the legality of Section 2CC of SEC Ordinance, 1969.

Market stakeholders and experts hailed the HC verdict and viewed that the judgment would help restore investors’ confidence in the market.

During the week, the benchmark general index of the DSE---DGEN, the yardstick of the market, went down by 325 points or 6.94 percent to close at 4300.

The broader All Shares Price Index (DSI) plunged 269 points or 6.85 percent to 3,654 points while the DSE-20 Index comprising blue chips also declined 191 points or 5.39 percent to 3349.

The total turnover on the prime bourse stood at Tk 7.14 billion at the end of the week, down from Tk 7.57 billion in the previous week.

The average daily turnover also came down to Tk 1.42 billion in the week, 5.63 percent lower compared to Tk 1.51 billion in the previous week.

During the week, all the major sectors went down on the trading board with banks falling the most 8.34 percent followed by non-banking financial institutions 7.87 percent, fuel and power 6.23 percent, pharmaceuticals 4.33 percent and telecommunications 2.22 per cent.

Bangladesh Submarine Cable Company continued to top the weekly turnover chart with shares worth Tk 596.10 million.

The other turnover leaders of the week were--Lafarge Surma Cement, Grameenphone, LankaBangla Finance, Meghna Petroleum, Social Islami Bank Ltd (SIBL), Square Pharma, Beximco Limited, Jamuna Oil and Titas Gas.

Fifth ICB was the week's top gainer, posting a rise of 8.90 percent followed by Third ICB, Rekitt Benckiser, First Bangladesh Fixed Income Fund, AMCL (Pran), BATBC, National Tea, United Insurance, Bata Shoe and Stylecraft.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 24th June 2012

Finance Minister AMA Muhith receives a crest during an award-giving ceremony of the HBFC in Dhaka Saturday.

Finance Minister AMA Muhith on Saturday asked the state-owned House Building Finance Corporation (HBFC) to adopt a long-term policy to expand its financial coverage in rural areas and to improve its service quality.

The minister was addressing an award-giving ceremony organised by the housing finance institution in Dhaka yesterday.

He said the housing industry poses immense potential to grow, as income of different groups of people is increasing day by day.

“Only 18 percent of houses in the country were buildings 27 years back, which has gone up to 30-32 percent now. Thus, the sector has a huge scope to grow further in the days to come,” he said.

He said more investment in the sector could also contribute to the economy.

The minister said he himself felt harassed by the HBFC officials and employees when he borrowed Tk 210,000 from it in the early 80s to construct a building on his wife’s land in Gulshan area.

“I had to come to HBFC physically for over 20 times. Those days were full of bitter experiences. What I like to emphasise is that the management of this organisation should improve quality of its financial services so that people from middle-class bracket can get loan without any hassle,” Muhith said while delivering a speech at the HBFC function.

Speaking on the occasion, Banking Division Secretary Safiqur Rahman Patwary also expressed his anger for the harassments by the HBFC staff to its clients and loan seekers.

“People who need financial support from you (HBFC) often put complaints to me against you. This situation is not expected to continue anymore,” Patwary said.

He also criticised the HBFC management’s decision to waive Tk 0.8 million against loans.

“The HBFC board cannot waive any interest against loans,” he said.

“Stop acting such things again and improve your service quality. Otherwise, you would not obtain trust from the stakeholders,” he said.

He also asked the HBFC management to put on display the citizen charter of the corporation and provide all information regarding financial products on its web site.

HBFC Chairman M Yasin Ali, who chaired programme, said sufferings of HBFC clients are usually caused due to absence of proper correspondence between banks and HBFC regarding loan disbursement and repayments.

“HBFC cannot disburse loan as it has no approval for banking. It depends on Sonali Bank for loan disbursement and to realise installments,” he said.

The HBFC board Chairman proposed to the finance minister to raise the ceiling of maximum loan disbursement to a client from Tk 5 million at present.

He said that a housing loan of Tk 5 million is not sufficient given the current market prices.

HBFC Managing Director Nurul Alam Talukder said the corporation’s annual disbursement target is only between Tk 2.50 billion to Tk 3 billion, which is not adequate to cover wide range of loan-seeking people in the rural areas.

He said the corporation has applied to the Bangladesh bank for a special fund worth Tk 2 billion which now remains pending.

He said more fund is needed to improve both the manpower skill and service quality of HBFC.

“HBFC is a profitable institute of the government and it can do better, if funds are available,” he said.

In the function, the HBFC management accorded crests to five best clients for regular repayment

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 24th June 2012

Bangladesh is committed to more inclusive green growth despite being the victim of climate change and climate change-related high carbon growth in the developed world, Atiur Rahman, governor of Bangladesh Bank, said yesterday.

Atiur spoke as a panel speaker at an event on 'Building Inclusive Green Economies: A New Development Partnership' on the sidelines of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20 Summit) in Brazil.

The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany arranged the event.

The central bank chief urged the leaders of the developed world, including the ministers present at the event, to come up with creative options for more meaningful international cooperation and transfer of resources and technologies for inclusive green growth.

Atiur said Bangladesh has been successful in halving poverty over the past two decades and enhancing social development despite being on the receiving end of the climate change-related vulnerabilities.

He highlighted the complementary role of the central bank of Bangladesh in improving financial inclusion which has been providing necessary access to finance for the disadvantaged small entrepreneurs and marginal farmers.

Atiur also said Bangladesh is committed to pursuing low-carbon green development without compromising the imperative of faster economic growth and social development.

“Development strategies of the Bangladesh government laid down in the Perspective Plan and the Sixth Five Year Plan declare clear commitment to pursuing sustainable growth,” he said.

The country's vulnerability to floods, cyclones and inundation of large coastal areas from global warming driven sea-level rise makes sustainability a prime development concern.

Atiur appreciated the Rio+20 final document for reflecting the core aspiration of the people of the developing and least developed countries particularly as the place for inclusive green growth for poverty eradication. But he was not fully satisfied with the means of implementation as no firm commitment has been made for the transfer of resources and technologies for poorer countries.

World Resources Institute Interim President Manish Bapna moderated the event.

The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 24th June 2012