A plaque of DBBL financial support was unveiled by Diabetic Association's President Prof AK Azad Khan, its vice president and veteran jurist Barrister Rafique-ul Huq and Dutch-Bangla Bank Foundation's Chairman M Shahabuddin Ahmed Tuesday.

Country's first 'Organ Transplant Centre', set up at Ibrahim Cardiac Hospital and Research Institute, has been more equipped and modernised with the financial support of Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd (DBBL).

The Bank provided Tk 93.6 million, under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities, to Diabetic Association of Bangladesh to modernise the centre by setting up a cath lab, operation theatres and beds for organ transplant surgery.

In this regard, a plaque of the financial support was unveiled Tuesday by the diabetic association's President Prof AK Azad Khan, its vice president and veteran jurist Barrister Rafique-ul Huq and the Dutch-Bangla Bank Foundation's Chairman M Shahabuddin Ahmed at a ceremony held at the hospital premises.

Presided over by Chairman of Board of Management of Ibrahim Cardiac Hospital Prof Mahmudur Rahman, the function was addressed, among others, by Mr Azad, Mr Huq, Chairman of Executive Committee of the DBBL Board Sayem Ahmed, DBBL Managing Director KS Tabrez, Secretary General of the diabetic association Mohammad Saif Uddin and Chief Executive Officer and senior consultant of the hospital Dr MA Rashid.

The function was also attended by a good number of senior officials and staffs of the hospital.

Since inception of the organ transplant centre, Bangladeshi surgeons of BIRDEM in the Ibrahim Cardiac Hospital successfully conducted two liver transplant surgeries for the first time in the country on June 3, 2010 and August 6, 2011.

Mr Huq highly praised the Bank's management for the donation in the health and education sectors.

He expected that other Banks and corporate bodies would come forward with their benevolent hands to develop the heath services in the country.

Mr Azad Khan appreciated DBBL for its humanitarian and welfare activities and termed its support as a unique example in fulfilling the medical needs of the people thereby glorifying the noble venture to modernise the health sector of the country.

Thanking the management of Dutch-Bangla Bank and the foundation for their contribution in health sector, he said that a great achievement of the country's health sector was that a significant number of patients would get treatment of such transplantation at home.

Mr Sayem Ahmed praised the authorities of the Diabetic Association for their continuous endeavor in setting up an independent Organ Transplant Centre.

He also thanked them for approaching Dutch-Bangla Bank in partnering with this expansion program of Ibrahim Cardiac Hospital & Research Institute.

Financial Express/Bangladesh/ 29th Feb 2012

The central bank has issued show-cause notices on three commercial banks for their alleged violation of announced interest rates on deposit, officials said Tuesday.

The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has also asked the managing directors and chief executive officers of these banks to explain within a week their positions and why disciplinary action will not be taken against them under the existing Bank Company Act.

The BB's inspection teams are now investigating into allegations of offering higher interest rates on deposits contrary to announcement by three other private commercial banks (PCBs).

"We'll take the next course of action in line with the existing Bank Company Act after receiving replies from the CEOs of the banks within the stipulated timeframe," an executive director of the BB told the FE.

The central bank issued the notice to the MDs of the three commercial banks on the basis of its probe report.

The central bank has conducted the inspections acting on a tip off, the BB executive director said without elaborating.

Currently, four teams are probing into allegations of offering higher interest rates on deposit by the PCBs through violating their announced interest rates.

The commercial banks earlier this month announced their interest rates on deposit maximum at 12.50 per cent in line with the Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB) decision.

"It has been reported that a few banks offered higher interest rates on deposit ranging between 13 per cent and 15 per cent to attract depositors from both public and private sectors to their banks from other ones," another BB official said.

He also said the central bank has advised all concerned to act rationally in fixing both deposit and lending rates to avoid any 'unhealthy' competition in the country's financial sector.

On February 7 last, the ABB called upon its member-banks to re-fix the deposit at a maximum of 12.50 per cent and lending rate at a maximum of 15.50 per cent.

The ABB's decision followed the withdrawal of capping of interest rates by the central bank in early January, 2012. Before that, the central bank had enforced on April 19, 2009, the capping of lending rate at 13 per cent in five specific areas to help mitigate the impact of the then global economic meltdown.

A deposit brokers' class has already been created in the financial sector to deal with cash money from depositors to the commercial banks and non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs), according to some senior bankers.

The deposit brokers' have negotiated with the banks and NBFIs about the deposit interest rate keeping a substantial commission from them, they added.

They also raised a question about higher rates on deposit particularly of the government funds, saying that who are getting benefit from the higher interest rates?

Financial Express/Bangladesh/ 29th Feb 2012

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has given a green signal to the proposal of Bank Asia to issue subordinated zero coupon bond worth Tk 110 crore.

The raised fund will be used to expand its investment in various sectors and consolidate its capital base in line with the Basel-II framework, said the SEC in a statement on Tuesday.

The six-year tenure bond will be non-listed, redeemable and non-convertible with 13 per cent maturity yield. Each unit price of the bond will be Tk 5,000.

A zero-coupon bond is a bond bought at a price lower than its face value, with the face value repaid at the time of maturity. It does not make periodic interest payments. When the bond reaches maturity, its investor receives its par (or face) value. Infrastructure Development Finance Company is the issue manager, which will be amortised. The institutions can be subscribed to the bonds through private placement.

The SEC also approved the amendment of merchant banker and portfolio manager rules 1996 and capital issue rules 1987 after taking public opinions, said the statement.

Under the amendment of merchant banker and portfolio manager rules, paid-up capital of a full-fledged merchant bank will be Tk 25 crore, instead of the existing Tk 10 crore.

The paid-up capital of a merchant bank with only an underwriting licence will be Tk 2.50 crore, instead of the existing Tk 1 crore, while the capital of a merchant bank with only an issue management licence will be Tk 12.50 crore, instead of the existing Tk 5 crore.

Under the amendment of capital issue rules, the regulator will now conduct 'special audits' into the listed companies' financial statements in a bid to ensure transparency and accountability in their financial management.

If an issuer fails to get its financial statement audited and submitted to the SEC and stock exchanges within the stipulated time, the commission may appoint a firm to audit the issuer's financial reports.

Cost of acquisitions and constructions, valuation, including revaluation and physical existence and the title of the fixed assets will be checked during the period of special audit.

In line with the guidelines, the audit firms will also re-audit the authenticity of liabilities of a company, including direct confirmation for major amounts -- which is more than 5 percent of the total liabilities.

The Independent/Bangladesh/ 29th Feb 2012

Bangladesh needs to create 1.5 million new jobs every year over the next 20 years to ensure development in line with its socio-economic demand, a World Bank report says.

Accelerating growth in Bangladesh’s per capita income has added nearly 1.2 million new jobs every year and improved job quality between 2000 and 2010, the World Bank said in its report titled “More and better jobs in South Asia”.

The report states that the South Asian economic growth, which has been second only to East Asia, needs to be sustained to create more and better jobs and reduce poverty. Bangladesh along with other South Asian countries has seen steady job growth and a substantial decrease in poverty over the past three decades, and South Asia will be the largest contributor to the global workforce over the next two decades, it adds.

The report was presented by Reema Nayar, lead economist, South Asia region of World Bank, on Tuesday at a function at Brac Inn Center in the capital. Atiur Rahman, governor of Bangladesh Bank, was present as chief guest.

Ellen Goldstein, country director for World Bank, Bangladesh, Kalpana Kochhar, chief economist of South Asia region, World Bank, Ahsam H Mansur, executive director, Zaidi Sattar, chairman of Policy Research Institute, Wahiduddin Mahmud, eminent economist, were also present.

The demographic transition in South Asia will result in more than 350 million people to enter the working age population over the next two decades, the report predicts. Despite growth, the region is still home to half billion poor people -- the largest in the world. Since labour is the primary asset of the poor, having more and better jobs is the key employment challenge facing the region, it adds.

The South Asia region, defined by the World Bank as Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, will need to add between 1 and 1.2 million additional jobs every month for the next twenty years, equivalent to about 40 percent of the increase in the global labour force, the report says.

Goldstein said, “The challenge for Bangladesh is to create higher quality jobs. Investing in education, health and nutrition and infrastructure, along with economic reforms would help create more and better jobs.”

“But the greatest payoffs to improve skills and the consequent ability to access better jobs may come from interventions before children enter formal schooling,” she added. “It’s not only the quantity of jobs but the quality of the jobs being created in the region is relevant,” said Kochhar.

She said wage workers in Bangladesh have seen their wages rise for price increases by nearly 2 percent a year and poverty rates among the self-employed have fallen. While quality of jobs has improved, little upward mobility has seen across the self-employed, casual laborers, and regular wage or salaried earners, Kochhar added.

The report suggests, among other things, sustained attention to electricity, education and utilising the demographic dividend can make an important difference. The working age (15-64) population in Bangladesh is growing more rapidly than the dependents, it adds.

“The resources that would have been required to support an otherwise larger dependent population are thus potentially available for the high-priority physical and human capital investment needed to create better jobs,” Atiur Rahman said.

Since the demand for labour is derived from businesses, it is important to address electricity shortages, which affect the functioning of virtually all firms in Bangladesh. The report suggests that improvements in the regulatory framework and governance are as critical as investments in those sectors.

The Independent/Bangladesh/ 29th Feb 2012

Alhaj Mohammad Hasan, Chairman of Shahjalal Islami Bank, speaks at the EC meeting of the Bank at its head office in the city recently.

Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited has organized its 473rd meeting of the executive committee (EC) at its head office in the city recently.

Alhaj Mohammad Hasan, Chairman of the Bank presided over the EC meeting, said a press release.

The executive committee members discussed various issues relating to investment in different sectors of the Bank.

Among others, Alhaj Anwer Hossain Khan, Chairman of the Board of Directors, directors Alhaj Akkas Uddin Mollah, Alhaj Engineer Md. Towhidur Rahman, Alhaj Mohammed Solaiman, Alhaj Mohiuddin Ahmed, Alhaj Tofazzal Hossain, Managing Director Md. Abdur Rahman Sarker, Additional Managing Director Md. Mukhter Hossain and Deputy Managing Director Md. Abdul Jabber Chowdhury were present at the meeting.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 29th Feb 2012