M Wahidul Haque, chairman of AB Bank, presides over the 30th annual general meeting of the Bank at Bashundhara Convention Centre in Dhaka yesterday. The Bank approved 5 percent cash and 20 percent stock dividends for its shareholders. M Fazlur Rahman, president and managing director, was also present.

The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 3rd May 2012

Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu, Chairman of BASIC Bank, presides over an AGM in Dhaka.

BASIC Bank Limited has declared 25 percent stock dividend for its shareholders for the year ended 2011.

The dividend was decided at the 23rd annual general meeting (AGM) of the company at the Bank's head office.

Sheikh Abdul Hye Bacchu, Chairman, Board of Directors of the Bank presided over the AGM, said a press release on Tuesday.

Directors of BASIC Bank Jahangir Akhand Salim, Fakhrul Islam, Shubhashish Bose, Neelufar Ahmed, Quamrun Nahar Ahmed, Shaskhawat Hossain, Prof Dr Kazi Akhtar Hussain, Md Anwarul Islam, FCMA, Managing Director, Kazi Fakhrul Islam, Additional Managing Director, Sheikh Manjur Morshed, Deputy Managing Directors, Fazlus Sobhan and Kanak Kumar Purkayastha were present.

Md. Rizwanul Huda, Deputy Secretary, Banking and Financial Institutions Division, Ministry of Finance attended the meeting as the representative of the government.

BASIC Bank Limited earned a gross operating profit Tk 2.35 billion in 2011.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 1st May 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

Premier Bank Chairman Dr. H. B. M. Iqbal presides over the 13th Annual General Meeting (AGM) at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the city. Bank’s Vice Chairman B. H. Haroon, MP and other Members of the Board and Bank management are also seen

Premier Bank declared 22 percent stock dividend for the year 2011 at the 13th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Bank held at Bangabandhu International Conference Centre in the city on April 15. Dr. H. B. M. Iqbal, Chairman of the Board of Directors presided over the meeting.

Dr. Iqbal informed the shareholders that during the year 2011 the Bank earned net profit of Tk. 51.9 crore. Total deposit of the Bank rose by 10.97 percent over the last year to reach the total of Tk. 6069.30 crore.

Total loans and advances stood at Tk.4977.49 crore yielding a significant growth of 7.27 percent. After detailed review the shareholders approved the accounts and Directors Reports and dividend at the rate of 22 percent for 2011 in the form of bonus share.

The Chairman appreciated the support of the Board members and the effort made by the management team to bring about improvement in the operations of the Bank.

The shareholders thanked Dr. Iqbal for his contributions to the Bank.

Majedur Rahman, Managing Director, informed the shareholders about various steps being taken to improve efficiency and to introduce products and services. The Bank has already opened up a new horizon in the corporate world with the introduction of some sophisticated and technology-based products.

Among others Directors Moin Iqbal, Md. Imran Iqbal, Shah Md. Nahyan Haroon, Md. Masud Zaman, Md. Lutfur Rahman, Managing Director Majedur Rahman, Additional Managing Director Abu Haniff Khan and Bank’s Company Secretary Syed Ahsan Habib were also present on the occasion.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 18th April 2012

The country's overall trade deficit widened by over 17 per cent to US$ 5.701 billion in the first eight months of the current fiscal year (FY '12) following higher import of petroleum products, officials said Monday.

"Higher import of fuel oil has widened the overall trade deficit during the period under review. But it might ease slightly in the coming months because of a falling trend in import of food grains along with unnecessary luxury items," a senior official at Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.

The overall trade deficit rose to $ 5.701 billion in July-February of the FY '12 from $ 4.859 billion during the corresponding period in the previous fiscal, according to the central bank statistics.

During the period, export earnings stood at $ 16.006 billion against the import payments of $ 21.707 billion.

Import of food grains such as rice and wheat, in terms of settlement of letters of credit (LCs), witnessed a negative growth of 36.83 per cent to $ 704.01 million in the period from $ 1.11 billion of the corresponding period last fiscal.

The import of fuel oils increased by 49.63 per cent to $ 3.00 billion in the first eight months of FY '12 from $ 2.00 billion of the same period in the previous fiscal, the BB data showed.

The central banker also said the BB has already advised the commercial banks to make credits available to the priority sectors, including the productive ones, in line with the newly announced monetary policy.

On January 26 last, the BB unveiled a 'restrained' monetary policy aiming to bring down inflation to single-digit from the current level of over 10 per cent through discouraging credit flows to unproductive sectors.

The country's current account balance decreased by nearly 32 per cent to $ 681 million in the period under report from $ 999 million in the same period of the previous fiscal.

However, the overall balance of payments (BoP) has recorded a deficit of $ 516 million during the period under review from $ 222 million in the corresponding period in the previous fiscal.

The overall BoP entered the negative territory in FY '11 after a decade due to widening of the trade gap, lower growth of remittances and deficit balance in the financial account.

Financial Express/Bangladesh/ 17th April 2012