Bangladesh Development Bank Limited (BDBL) is going to introduce online banking services at three of its branches from tomorrow.

The move came as part of BDBL’s plan of introducing fully automated banking services from June this year, a BDBL release said here today.

Managing Director of the Bangladesh Development Bank Dr M Zillur Rahman informed this while inaugurating a workshop on ‘SME Financing’ in the Bank’s conference room.

He said the Bank’s provision surplus reached to Taka 50 crore within two years of its journey though the Bank initially started with huge loan burden.

Rahman mentioned that Bangladesh Development Bank would concentrate more and more on SME financing to help create employment.

General Manager of Bangladesh Bank Sukamal Sinha Choudhury, who spoke on the occasion as chief guest, emphasized on financing the SME sector, especially the women entrepreneurs.

He assured to provide all sorts of support for SME financing from the central bank on continuous basis.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 29th April 2012

Prime Bank Limited has received Bizz 2012- Inspirational Company Award for its consistent growth, Corporate Social Responsibilities (CSR) and use of technology.

World Confederation of Businesses (WORLDCOB) gave the award to the Bank at a program recently held in Barcelona, Spain on April 14.

Ahmed Kamal Khan Chowdhury, deputy managing director & CFO of the Bank received the award.

Bizz 2012 is an exclusive recognition for the most outstanding companies in the world, who have consistently exceeded the expectations in their respective industry and market.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 29th April 2012

The government is likely to appoint a UK-based consulting firm to strengthen the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) by enhancing its professional capacity in a bid to ensure quality of audit reports and financial disclosures.

The consulting firm--PKF (UK) LLP—will be appointed for capacity building of the CAG under the Strengthening Public Expenditure Management Program (SPEMP), officials said.

Finance Secretary Dr Mohammad Tareque sent a proposal before the cabinet committee on public purchase last week for its approval to appoint PKF (UK) LLP.

As per the proposal, the project will improve the organisational structure and raise capacity of CAG and its audits and financial management academy.

The SPEMP is a World Bank-led multi-donor trust fund, supported by Canada, Denmark, Netherlands, United Kingdom and the EU.

The project aims to modernise core institutions for budgeting and financial management of the country during a period from 2011 to 2014.

“Implementation of the project will help the government to save time and huge amount of public money as disclosure of most of the audit reports on different projects and organisation have been delayed by two to three years, partly due to the delay in scrutinising them by the Public Accounts Committee of the parliament” an official of the CAG said.

“There are few qualified accountants amongst the 3,000 auditors in the auditor general’s office” the official added.
He also said once the capacity and organisational structure of CAG is improved to an expected level, audit recommendations on any project would arrive in time, providing the government a scope to alter the criteria of the particular project.

The government floated an international tender last year to hire a consulting firm to boost the capacity and efficiency of the state auditors.

A total of five international firms participated in the tender. An evaluation committee selected PKF (UK) LLP as the successful bidder in terms of quality and expertise.

Other consulting firms who participated in the tender include Cowater international Inc of Canada, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Private Limited and PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt Ltd of India.

The Cowater international, the second highest scorer in the bidding process, questioned the transparency of the evaluation committee through filing a complaint with the World Bank.

The World Bank, however, rejected the complaint from the Canadian firm.
The total cost of the project has been estimated at Tk 588.7 million. Of the amount, the government will have to spend Tk 56.7 million to bear the airfare of the international consultants.

“Audit reports and financial disclosures will not be up to date without enhancing the functionality of the Public Accounts Committee of the parliament, since the state audit firm submits its report to the parliament”, M Hafizuddin Khan, former auditor general and adviser to a caretaker government, told daily sun yesterday.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 29th April 2012

Sheikh Abdul Aziz, Managing Director and CEO of Uttara Bank speaks at zonal chiefs conference at the Bank’s head office in the city recently.

Uttara Bank Limited organised 2nd zonal chiefs’ conference-2012 at the Bank’s head office in the city recently.

Sheikh Abdul Aziz, Managing Director and CEO of Uttara Bank presided over the conference, according to a press release received on Friday.

The meeting discussed overall achievement of the first quarter of the Bank and various aspects of the year 2012.

MA Matin, Additional Managing Director, deputy managing directors, Abu Ahmed, Md Fazlur Rahman and Sabera Akhteri Zamal were also present.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 29th April 2012

The board of Standard Bank Limited (SBL) offered 20 percent stock dividends for its shareholders for the year 2011.
Besides, FAS Finance and Investment Limited recommended five per cent stock dividends for the share holders in the same year.

The Bank will hold annual general meeting on May 31 and the record has been set on May 10.

The Bank reported profit after tax and provision of Tk 1.3 billion, earning per share (EPS) of Tk 3.19, net asset value (NAV) per share of Tk 16.92 and NOCFPS of Tk 5.55.

FAS Finance will hold annual general meeting (AGM) on June 14 at Nitol Centre in the city while the record date has been set on May 08.

The company has also reported consolidated EPS of Tk 0.18, consolidated NAV per share of Tk 18.63 and consolidated NOCFPS of Tk 3.15.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 27th April 2012