Internet Banking is growing popular day by day in Bangladesh. A number of private as well as local banks are going online now considering the demand and necessity of fast banking. Internet banking not only provides banking facility round the clock but also helps a country to get attached to the international economy as well as business. People throughout the world are now getting engaged with more activity and business and hence need the fast and anytime access to his/her bank account. Internet banking also facilitates buying and selling various products which varies country to country.

In Bangladesh many banks have launched Internet Banking. Amongst those HSBC, City Bank, BRAC Bank, Bank Asia, Jamuna Bank, Janata Bank, Southeast Bank, AB Bank, First Security Bank, Mercantile Bank, Premier Bank etc are in action already. Some are known as online banking, some are Internet Banking, providing various facilities. Like City Bank has the facility of account check and statement print including query about cheque book information. Bank Asia has almost same facilities but with addition they have internal fund transfer facility along with bill payment and mobile phone recharge which are, in fact quite handy.

Mercantile bank has a schedule for internet banking. It is Sunday to Thursday, 9am-3pm. They have the facility of money transaction, deposit and withdrawal though they charge a particular amount for each transaction according to their policy, it is a relief if you don’t have to go to bank for depositing and drawing money, isn’t it?

HSBC and BRAC Bank are clearly not satisfied with the transaction thing only in internet banking. They thought of something more and desiring and customized the service to its best for their clients and getting better day by day. HSBC has a whole lot of features in their online banking that includes 24/7 account access, loan account information, net- worth information, transaction amongst accounts, bill pay, personal information update, demand draft,  ATM info or PIN replacement request, chequebook order and lot more.

BRAC bank is one step ahead because for the first time they have introduced online shopping in Bangladesh. With exclusive features and facility BRAC bank also provides general online facility like the other banks. BRAC bank’s online shopping facilitates merchants to buy any product as they need online, they can customize the offers as well. Those who may have BRAC Bank VISA card or any VISA card can be a part of this online shopping service.

As the world economy is growing faster and banking sector is making mark each and every day, online banking is very important and effective to be a part of it. Bangladesh just started its journey in internet banking and banks are coming forward to make it a success. Online banking is clearly a huge benefit for the customers and saves a lot of time and things get done so easily. A developing country like Bangladesh can make the best out of Internet Banking and banks are completely into it.

HSBC, known as world's local bank, has recently introduced their very popular HSBC Amanah banking in Bangladesh. HSBC Amanah is the global Islamic financial services division of the HSBC Group. Amongst the many international Islamic financial services team, HSBC Amanah represents the largest in Middle East, Asia-Pacific, Europe and the Americas. It was established in 1998 with more than 300 professional to serve the purpose. Their main concern are the customers and their needs.

HSBC Amanah offers commercial banking products along with deposits and investment products, account services, corporate financing solutions, trade services, guarantee solutions and cash management services etc. Not only these, HSBC Amanah also provides Corporate Internet Banking- an international secured service based on the award winning HSBC net platform, in Bangladesh.

Amongst so many popular services HSBC Amanah in Bangladesh has introduced Amanah Inport Finance, Short-Term Financing, Documentary credit etc.

Amanah Import Finance

For business purpose HSBC's trade specialists and financial consultants offer expertise and practical support to the business owners as HSBC is well reputed for expertise in global trade finance. Amanah Import Finance is based on the Shariah principles of Goods Murabaha, catering to import finance through Documentary Credit and Shipping Guarantees.

Main Features:

Ø Competitive pricing with the market

Ø Simple documentation and quick turn-around time

Ø In the goods Murabaha transactions, a client him/herself will be appointed as their agent to purchase the goods and negotiate the price and other specification with the supplier of goods.

Documentary Credit

Amanah Documentary Credit helps developing the overseas business relationship. A number of key factors need to be considered while developing business relationships with overseas suppliers and there comes the Documentary Credit. A documentary credit issued by HSBC Amanah provides assurance and security to both the buyer and the supplier by helping to mitigate the inherent risks of international trade.

Main Features:

HSBC Amanah documentary Credit is based on the Shariah principles of Murabahah or Wakalah. It has multiple features like following:

Ø Financial Strength

Ø Global Network

Ø Seamless and timely

Ø Expert Assistance

Ø Vendor Support

Short-Term Financing

This financing facility is known as Amanah Goods Murabaha which is a Shariah-compliant product that provides shot-term financing for a customer's working capital requirements and purchase of assets. This particular financing system involves the Bank purchasing goods/assets at a customer's request and selling the same to the same customer at a sale price on a deferred payment basis. It is a Shariah requirement that the breakup of cost and profit in the sale price be disclosed.

Product Features:

Ø It helps a customer to purchase with a wide variety like Raw Material, Spare Parts, machinery/equipment, finished goods etc.

Ø A customer may enjoy competitive pricing with the market

Ø 1-12 month tenor

Ø Simple documentation and quick turn-around time

Ø Various payment schemes

Product Structure:

How does it work? A customer of the bank will be appointed as their agent to purchase the goods and negotiate the price and other specifications with the supplier. Each time a customer needs prior approval of the bank to get engaged with a supplier. Based on the value of the purchase, bank will prepare an offer letter for the customer, which will be signed and sent by the customer to the bank advising to purchase the goods from the bank at a Murabaha price (cost plus profit).

The bank will sell the purchased goods/assets to the customer by accepting the offer and making the payment to the supplier. Customer will pay the bank on the agreed date.

HSBC Amanah has surely opened a new window to the business owners as well as regular clients in Bangladesh which will surely be a great opportunity for them to enhance the economic strength of the country with an Islamic way and view.

Banks face a period of over-regulation caused by public outrage over lax supervision that led to the global financial crisis, OECD chief Jose Angel Gurria said on Friday. Ever since the 2007-2008 slump, regulators worldwide have moved to strengthen supervision of large banks and other financial institutions. “We blew it so badly that right now there is a pendular movement toward too much regulation,” Gurria told 600 senior financiers attending the spring meeting of the Washington-based Institute of International Finance (IIF). “Don’t fight it—it is going to happen no matter what. People are too scared, people are too angry, the consequences have been too massive,” Gurria told the forum held in New Delhi.
Financial institutions in mature economies are being blamed for irresponsible lending and risk-taking that led to the worst global downturn since the 1930s Great Depression.
“We share the responsibility” for the events leading up to the crisis, said Gurria who heads the Paris-based Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation.
“The banks are a very good villain (in the public eye) and maybe we will have a period when we have too much
regulation as an inevitable political result of the crisis and then maybe we will get it right,” he said.
Gurria’s comments came as the IIF, which represents 430 institutions from over 70 countries, said the regulatory crackdown on financial bodies could hurt economic recovery by curbing banks’ critical funding role. “Never before have so many regulatory reforms been determined or planned” by different nations, said IIF chairman Josef Ackermann.
Ackermann called for better global coordination in drafting regulatory policies on the need for banks to hold more capital, pay higher taxes and other reforms in order to avoid the creation of “uneven playing fields.”
He urged that authorities around the world take stock of regulations that “are in train” to see how these will affect the financial system. 

News: The Independent/Bangladesh/05 Mar 2011

The small and medium enterprises (SME) sector that generates bulk of the employment in a developing country like Bangladesh plays a major part in alleviation of poverty, and the success story of the country will be authored by its small and medium entrepreneurs, said Bangladesh Bank (BB) governor Dr Atiur Rahman on Tuesday. “This sector alone can generate huge employment opportunities and contribute a handsome amount to the country’s GDP,” said Rahman while addressing the inaugural ceremony of the first-ever SME Financing Fair 2011, held at the Institute of Engineers’ Bangladesh in the port city.
Emphasizing the importance of the sector, the BB governor said it can play a significant role in establishing gender equality and bridge the widening the gap between rural and urban income.
“Realizing the importance of the sector, the apex bank is encouraging banks and non-bank financing organizations to put emphasis on SME,” he added.
He also said Tk. 53,454 crore in SME loans had been provided to entrepreneurs in 2010, while the amount was Tk. 51,148 crore in 2009. “The collection was incredible, with only a deficit of Tk. 18347 crore in two years,” he pointed out. Rahman further said the endeavour to encourage woman entrepreneurs proves successful as 19,194 woman entrepreneurs were provided with SME loans worth Tk. 2,103 crore last year.
“BB and SME Foundation are trying to provide integrated support to women entrepreneurs in pre-investment consultation, planning and implementation of projects,” he said and added that BB is also financing easy loans to agro-processing entrepreneurs.
He urged bankers to lend the SME a helping hand with expanding facilities in rural areas and give loan assistance to traditional industries like handicraft, weaving, pottery and boutique.
The chairman of SME foundation, Aftabul Islam, presided over the programme while media personnel Shaikh Siraj, Agrani Bank chairman Prof. Khondaker Bazlul Hoque, SME Foundation chief executive officer Sayeed Rezuanul Kabir, BRAC Bank managing director Sayeed Mahbubur Rahman, general manager of BB’s SME and special programmes department, Sukomal Singh Choudhury and general manager of BB in Chittagong, Mohammad Naushad Ali Chowdhury, among others, addressed the inaugural ceremony. Shaikh Siraj said introduction of SME to rural areas would result in a large-scale development that would put the country’s economy in a high growth trajectory. He urged BB to arrange SME fairs in rural areas and include poultry, fishing and flower farming under the SME category.
Later, the BB governor formally handed over sanction letters for loans worth Tk. 4.19 crore to 23 entrepreneurs from across the country. Nineteen banks provided the loans.

News: The Independent/Bangladesh/16 Feb 2011

Rejaul Karim Byron

Default rates declined compared to outstanding loans last year, but showed a slight rise in volume, as some banks could not rein in their bad loans.

According to Bangladesh Bank statistics, state banks succeeded in cutting their loan default rates, but private, foreign and specialised banks saw their bad loans shoot up.

In the overall banking sector, the defaulted loan situation has improved because of continuous monitoring by the central bank, said a BB official. However, in some banks, defaulted loans went up, resulting in a little increase in volume.

On December 31, 2010, the defaulted loans of the banks were Tk 22,709 crore or 7.27 percent of the outstanding loans. A year ago, it was Tk 22,482 crore or 9.21 percent of the outstanding loans.

The volume of total defaulted loans increased by Tk 227 crore or 1 percent last year compared to the previous year.

The central bank evaluates the loan default situation on a quarterly basis. The situation improved substantially on December 31, 2010 over the third quarter.

In the third quarter, the defaulted loans reached Tk 24,088 crore but the banks brought down the figure by around Tk 2,000 crore at the end of the year. The amount of bad loans in the banking sector is still huge if the loans being written off are taken into account.

According to the statistics updated until June last year, the banks wrote off bad loans worth about Tk 17,400 crore since June 2004. Of the amount, Tk 2,100 crore was written off in the last fiscal year. Following a central bank guideline, the banks for the first time introduced a system of writing off loans in 2003.

A BB official said the central bank is going to take various reform programmes in the banks which will further improve the default loan scenario.

The bank company act is going to be amended further to tighten monitoring of the commercial banks' activities, change the default loan definition, and further streamline the size and tenure of the banks' boards.

In the state banks, the percentage of the defaulted loans of their outstanding loans has come down to 15.66 percent on December 31, 2010, which was 21.38 percent a year ago. In amount, their defaulted loans decreased by about Tk 990 crore during the one year period.

An official of Sonali Bank said the government has formed a committee headed by Chairman of the bank Kazi Baharul Islam. The official said the four state banks have functioned on the basis of a common approach which had a positive impact on their performances.

In the private commercial banks, the defaulted loans came down to 3.15 percent of their outstanding loans in December 2010, which was 3.92 percent a year ago, but the volume of their defaulted loans increased by Tk 254 crore in the same year.

In volume, the defaulted loans of the foreign banks increased by Tk 205 crore, and in the specialised banks, the amount went up by Tk 758 crore.

A BB official said the defaulted loans of most of the banks went down, but the total bad loans increased as the amount of such loans was high in some banks.

News: The Daily Star /Bangladesh/15 Feb 2011