From left, Samiran Chakraborty, head of research at Standard Chartered Bank Mumbai; Jim McCabe, chief executive officer of StanChart Bangladesh; Mahbubur Rahman, president of International Chamber of Commerce Bangladesh (ICCB); Muhammad A (Rumee) Ali, chairman of BRAC Bank, and Ataur Rahman, ICCB secretary general, attend a workshop on treasury management, organised by ICCB, in Dhaka yesterday.

The private sector is not getting enough credit for working capital as banks are going through a liquidity crisis, the president of International Chamber of Commerce Bangladesh said yesterday.

So it is essential for bankers to learn more about the treasury management for proper utilisation of limited funds, said Mahbubur Rahman.

He spoke at a workshop on treasury management, organised by the chamber and supported by Standard Chartered Bank, at a local hotel in Dhaka. Despite the global recession, the developing Asia's growth in 2011 was recorded at 9.5 percent, he said.

Asia, with a solid global market and a large pool of foreign exchange reserves, has proven to be the shining light in a gloomy and uncertain world economy, according to experts.

"Asia's prospects are likely to be affected by the West. However, it is opined that the rising Asia appears to be able to help save the world from the shrinking economy," according to a statement of the chamber.

In line with Asian economies, Bangladesh's performance has so far been quite resilient to global economic meltdown, Rahman said, adding that the country's macroeconomic performance was better than expected and regionally its performance had been one of the best.

He mentioned that treasury management is the management of cash, fund, currency, bank and financial risk.

"So, it is an imperative tool of finance. It handles actual cash management at companies, and one of its main functions is to establish the optimum cash level so that payments can be made and received as necessary for the proper operation of the company."

Besides, another main function of treasury management is to maintain the liquidity of business, Rahman said.

Without proper liquidity, it is risky for business to operate smoothly and it is also the function of treasury management to minimise the currency risk, he said.

For this, treasury managers touch with currency market of world, he said, adding that the managers analyse the reason of crisis in currency market.

"Sometime this crisis will be benefited for them because they have to pay less to other country for getting their service at cheap rates."

The recent manipulation of London Interbank Offered Rate in UK created panic among the consumer of the banks and "its ultimately spreading all over the world", said Muhammed A (Rumee) Ali, BRAC Bank chairman and vice chairman of Bangladesh Association of Banks.

"Recent change in provisioning requirement by our central bank for the commercial bank may compel banks to draw upon their capital to meet their requirements."

He suggested the central bank to make details study on it. Bangladesh Bank should also have to train its officials for providing exact information, Ali said.

Global economic turbulence led to realignment and changes in global financial architecture, said Jim McCabe, chief executive officer of Standard Chartered Bank.

"StanChart has weathered this storm much better than most of our peers worldwide. This gives us a vantage point in guiding financial innovation in a manner which is sustainable by combining our global capability, deep local knowledge and creativity. Our effort today is towards that end."

The workshop with 60 participants was jointed conducted by Samiran Chakraborty, head of research for Standard Chartered Bank, Mumbai; Alamgir Morshed, head of global markets of Standard Chartered Bank, Bangladesh, and Biswajeet Sengupta, head of financial market sales for Bangladesh and Eastern India.

The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 15th July 2012

Muhammad Yasin Ali, Deputy Managing Director and Chief Anti-Money Laundering and Compliance Officer of Prime Bank, seen at a workshop in Dhaka.

Prime Bank Limited organised a workshop on 'Anti-Money Laun-dering and Anti Terro-rist Financing' at Bi-joynagar in Dhaka.

Muhammad Yasin Ali, Deputy Managing Director and Chief Anti Money Laun-dering and Compliance Officer (CAMLCO) of the bank inaugurated the workshop, said a press release.

Mohammad Aminul Islam, VP, Deputy CAMLCO of Prime Bank, moderated the programme while Md. Nazim Uddin, Head of Internal Control and Compliance Division presided.

M. Reazul Karim, Additional Managing Director also spoke.

Officers of 31 branches of of the bank of Dhaka city participated the workshop.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 13th July 2012

 Leading mobile phone operator Grameenphone in association with BRAC Bank Limited Saturday organised a workshop on ‘Capital Market: Awareness and role of media’ to foster knowledge base of the financial journalists reporting on capital market issues, financial statements and valuation models.

Around 40 journalists of different print and electronic media covering capital market took part at the workshop held at BRAC Inn which also discussed the impact and importance of journalists’ work on capital market and economy.

Dr. Musharraf M. Hussain, Chief Executive Officer, Dhaka Stock Exchange inaugurated the workshop as the chief guest.

Moazzem Hossain, Editor Financial Express, Arif Khan, Member, Securities and Exchange Commission, Rahmat Pasha, Chief Executive Officer, BRAC EPL and, Fridtjof Rusten, Chief Financial Officer of Grameenphone were the panel discussants.

Shawkat Hossain Masum, News Editor of The Daily Prothom Alo moderated the session while Syed Mahbubur Rahman, Chief Executive Officer of BRAC Bank delivered vote of thanks.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 1st July 2012

Standard Chartered Bank organized a workshop last week on "Financial Risk Management" for Dhaka Export Processing Zone (EPZ) client entities. The workshop was aimed at shedding light on the national economy and its implications for the business concerns. The event took place at the Dhaka EPZ Investors' Club where more than 50 representatives from various EPZ companies were present. Mr. Abrar A. Anwar, Managing Director , Head of Origination & Client Coverage, Co-Head Wholesale Banking, Bangladesh gave the welcome speech.

Financial Express/Bangladesh/ 3rd June 2012

Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) organised a review workshop on ‘trade services operations in banks’ at its auditorium on Saturday in the city.

Nazneen Sultana, deputy governor, Bangladesh Bank, said the ongoing global liberalisation and integration process have brought considerable changes in international trade transactions and practices that have been affecting trade services by banks covering mainly facilitation of trade payment and trade financing.

Professor Dr. Shah Md. Ahsan Habib, director (Training), BIBM, presented a keynote about different functional areas and activities performed by the trade service department of the bank.

Among others, Professor Dr. Toufic Ahmed Chowdhury, director general, BIBM, lecturer Mahmoodur Rahman, BIBM, ATM Nessarul Haque, assistant vice president of Mutual Trust Bank Ltd., Md. Nazir Hossain, senior assistant vice president, Eastern Bank Ltd., Dr. Md. Haider Ali Miah, additional managing director of Export Import Bank of Bangladesh Ltd., Faruk M. Ahmed, additional managing director of The City Bank Ltd. and Mahabubul Alam, deputy managing director of Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd., spoke at the workshop.

The Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ 27-May-2012