Banking
Pranab elected Chair of ADB Governors’ Board
Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was on Saturday elected as Chair of the ADB’s Board of Governors and the country will host the 46th annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank in New Delhi next year.
“India is very happy to accept the chair,” Mukherjee said at the closing business session of the 45th annual meeting of the ADB board of governors.
Mukherjee said while India was the founding member of the ADB in 1966, its lending operations in India began two decades later.
“The 25 years of partnership has been an exciting and challenging journey,” he said, adding that he was “honoured”.
As a major multilateral lending organisation, the Manila-headquartered ADB has 67 members, of which 48 are from Asia. The US and Japan are the largest shareholders of the ban while India is the fifth largest.
“ADB’s three-year country operations business plan for India for 2012 - 2014 will provide lending assistance of USD 6.25 billion to support inclusive and environmentally sustainable growth,” Secretary ADB Robert Dawson told PTI.
The lending support will go to key areas like transport, energy, urban development, agriculture natural resource management, finance and education.
Inviting ADB members to the next annual meeting to be held in New Delhi, Mukherjee said the Philippines, host of the 45th conference, has set very high standards of hospitality and efficiency.
“Our hosts here in the Philippines have set very high standards. While we can safely promise you much warmer, dare I say slightly hotter, weather, we shall endeavour to match the Philippines standards of hospitality and efficiency”.
He said it is an honour for India to host the next annual meeting and chair the deliberations in “our race to the shared vision for the future, a world where the lives of hundreds of millions of poor people are transformed and there is freedom from poverty, disease, illiteracy, and gender inequality’”.
The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 7th May 2012
Bangladesh Bank fears coin crisis as procurement tender cancelled
Bangladesh Bank has feared crisis in the supply of one and two taka worth coins in the next two years as tender for coins’ procurement is canceled after six companies complained about a condition which asks to ensure that there is no health hazards with the coins.
Bangladesh Bank, the country’s currency issuing authority, already sent a new proposal to finance division of the government for a fresh tender. “Finance Division is now scrutinising the Bangladesh Bank’s proposal to cancel tender process after the companies complained about the condition of removing coins’ health hazards,” said a senior official of the banking division on Thursday last week.
The central bank estimates that 2 billion pieces of coins will be required till December 2013 as most of the paper notes have torn out in the past five years since 2007.
The official sources said different companies from Japan, France, Canada, the UK, Netherlands and Salvia raised complaint against a condition which wants avoiding of possible health hazards of the coins.
The central bank wanted DNA tests of DIN 1013-3 and DIN 1061 which are believed to be necessary for metal coins to make sure that the users are secured from all health risks the coins may carry. The central bank didn’t take the health issues of the coins seriously before this time and so carried out no DNA tests.
Banking Division sources said they have already started scrutiny of the Bangladesh Bank’s re-tender proposal which now excludes the condition of DIN Test and Health Guard Coin.
In its proposal, the central bank said that it is not possible to float a fresh tender by end the current fiscal which ends in just next month. It said 2 billion metal coins cannot be procured in this short period of time.
Bangladesh Bank, therefore, has requested the finance division to go for re-tender in the next fiscal.
The central bank also wants a re-allocation of Tk 1.2 billion in the next fiscal’s budget. The cost of procurement of two types of coins is estimated at Tk 1.4 billion.
Chairman of Bangladesh Krishi Bank Khondkar Ibrahim Khaled on Sunday told daily sun that the amount of money involved with one and two taka notes are very small for the country’s money market. “So, I don’t see any major setback will be brought by the coin crisis for the country’s inflation rate situation,” he said. Ibrahim Khaled, however, said that the traders and the consumers might face problems due to crisis of one and two taka coins as the paper notes of these values tore in the last five years.
The government procured 300 million pieces of two taka metal coins in 2010, 180 million pieces in 2008 and 200 million in 2004.
It also procured 500 million pieces of metal coins in 2009 and 400 million in 2003. Earlier, the government procured 265.75 million pieces of two taka paper notes in 2010, 106.40 million in 2009 and 272.80 million in 2007. e portrait of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman will be printed on the proposed one and two taka worth coins.
The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 7th May 2012
Senior StanChart official due in town
Ananth Narayan
Ananth Narayan, the regional head of global markets of Standard Chartered Bank, will arrive in Dhaka today for a three-day official visit, the Bank said in a statement.
Narayan, also co-head of wholesale banking, South Asia, is expected to meet key regulators, clients, employees and other stakeholders during his visit.
His responsibility includes trading, sales and structuring across asset class like fixed income, credit, commodities and equity.
The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 7th May 2012
BB governor leaving for Kolkata to receive Indira Gandhi Gold Plaque
Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman leaves Dhaka for Kolkata today to receive the prestigious Indira Gandhi Gold Plaque 2011, said a statement yesterday.
Atiur has been awarded the Gold Plaque by the Asiatic Society in Kolkata in recognition of his significant contribution to international co-operation towards human progress.
He will receive the award this evening at the Vidyasagar Hall of the Asiatic Society, Kolkata.
He has also received the 'Sheltech Award (2010)' and 'Nawab Bahadur Syed Nawab Ali Chowdhury National Award (2012)' for his outstanding contribution to the development of the financial sector in Bangladesh.
The award was introduced in 1985. Past awardees include ex-Swedish premier Olof Palme (1985), Dr DS Kothari (1986), Nobel laureate Mother Teresa (1987), former secretary general of the United Nations Dr Javier Perez de Cuellar (1988), Dr Nelson Mandela (1989), Rev Desmond Tutu (1990), Yasser Arafat (1993), Prof Amartya Sen (1994), Aung San Suu Kyi (1995), Shri KR Narayan (1996), Dr Ali Akbar Khan (1997), Dr Gabriel Garcia Marquez (1998), Father of the Green Revolution MS Swaminathan (2002), and shehnai maestro Ustad Bismillah Khan (2003).
The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 7th May 2012
Prime Bank receives business award
Prime Bank Limited (PBL) has received the Bizz 2012 – Inspirational Company Award, says a press release.
PBL deputy managing director and CFO Ahmed Kamal Khan Chowdhury received the award recently from World Confederation of Businesses (WORLDCOB) at a programme held in Barcelona, Spain.
Bizz – 2012 is the recognition for the most outstanding companies in the world, who have consistently exceeded the expectations in their respective industry and market.
According to the release, PBL won this award in recognition of its consistent growth, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and use of technology.
The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 6th May 2012