Sunil Kaushal

Sunil Kaushal, Regional Chief Executive, India & South Asia, Standard Chartered Bank will arrive in Dhaka today (Monday) for a two day official visit. 

This will be his first official visit to Bangladesh after being appointed in this role. During his stay in Dhaka, he is expected to meet the senior government officials, clients, stakeholders and staff of the Bank. 

Sunil has over 23 years of banking experience in diverse markets and has been with the bank for approximately 14 years. He has recently assumed responsibility for Standard Chartered Bank's operations in South Asia (which includes India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Afghanistan).

Prior to his current role, Sunil was the President and Chief Executive Officer for Standard Chartered Bank (Taiwan) Limited.

Financial Express/Bangladesh/ 13th Feb 2012

World renowned cricketer Chris Gayle inaugurating 200th ATM of AB Bank at Banani in the city Sunday.

AB Bank Limited, with a vision to expand its alternate delivery channel introduced its 200th ATM Sunday at Banani in the city. The ATM was inaugurated by world renowned cricketer Chris Gayle along with Md. Mesbahul Hoque, Director of AB Bank Limited, Badrul H. 

Khan, DMD (Credit) and Ahsan Afzal, DMD (Business and Commercial) of AB Bank Limited. Shahnawaj Chowdhury, Head of Cashlink Bangladesh Limited was also present at the inauguration ceremony. The ATMs operate under the Cashlink network.

Financial Express/Bangladesh/ 12th Feb 2012

World Bank (WB) will provide $36 million to Bangladesh for protection of wild life in the country, prevent illegal trading and regional threats to forest conservation as well as habitats.

A WB representative emphasised for trans-boundary forest preservation in South Asia as the Washington-based multi-lending agency has taken up a project -- Strengthening Regional Cooperation for Wildlife Protection in Asia.

The project will be implemented in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and India to help the participatinggovernments to address cross-border poaching and will fill crucial knowledge gaps in conservation.

The WB disclosed the information at the project launching ceremony jointly organised by Bangladesh Forest Department under the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the WB at a city hotel Sunday.

Environment and Forests Minister Dr Hasan Mahmud was present as chief guest in the event chaired by chief conservator of forests Md Yunus Ali.

"The project will be an important milestone for regional cooperation for wildlife conservation in South Asia," the minister said just before launching the first-ever World Bank supported regional project in the sub-continent.

He said protection of wildlife and its habitats were becoming a challenging task for the government due to rapid urbanisation and increased population growth in the forest areas, causing human-animal conflicts on a regular basis that have cost many lives.

According to a study, at least 418 people died in the last one decade in the country due to human-tigers and human-elephant conflicts while 42 elephants and 27 tigers were killed by human during the time when the wild animals come to nearby villages in search of food.

Mr Hasan Mahmud said the government has moved to amend the Bangladesh Wildlife (preservation) Act 1973, which has already been approved by the cabinet recently. "We're hopeful that it will be passed in the ongoing parliamentary session," he said.

Financial Express/Bangladesh/ 13th Feb 2012

S.A. Chowdhury, MD and Dr. Muhammad Asaduzzaman, DMD of Bangladesh Commerce Bank Ltd, seen at a conference in the city on Saturday.

The Dhaka Divisional Officers’ Conference-2012 of Bangladesh Commerce Bank Ltd was held at the BIAM auditorium on Saturday.

Officers from head office and 17 branch offices of Dhaka Division were present at the conference, said a press release.

S.A. Chowdhury, managing director and Dr. Muhammad Asaduzzaman, deputy managing director of the Bank were present as chief guest and special guest respectively.

High officials and executives, among others, were present on the occasion.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 13th Feb 2012

A stiff competition in the banking industry to lure depositors by raising interest rates, which  started since the beginning of New Year,  has escalated further, showing a sign of severe liquidity shortage.Banks raised their rates on savings, fixed or term deposits up to more than 15 per cent after central bank scrapped the cap on lending rates.

The banks having less current account or savings accounts became aggressive to give a boost to the cash flow, cashing in on the central bank’s latest move, according to the banking circle.Stock investors also divert their funds from the capital market to banks to take advantage of higher deposit interest rate to earn more from stock investment that declined around 20 per cent since the beginning of 2012.

“In the wake of current volatile global economic situation, we believe that the deposit rates will be a highly beneficial and attractive source of returns for our customers,” said a top banker.On January 4, Bangladesh Bank (BB) had lifted the cap on lending rate for all sectors and items barring only two -- agriculture and export-- to facilitate the country's overall economic growth through supporting investment activities in different fields. 

The savings deposit rates have been raised up to 14 per cent in January, well ahead of 10 per cent in the same month a year ago. Among the 30 private commercial banks (PCBs), Pubali is probably the first bank to  raised deposit interest rate soon after the withdrawal of the lending cap.

Later, other PCBs and foreign banks joined the race.Uttara Bank has raised the interest rate to 13.50 per cent from 12 per cent, Islami Bank to 10.50 per cent from 8 per cent, National Bank Ltd  14.50 per cent from 12.50 per cent, IFIC Bank  14 per cent from 12 per cent, NCC Bank 13 per cent from 12.13 per cent, Standard Bank 14.50 per cent from 12 per cent,  City Bank 13.50 per cent from 12.0 per cent and Bank Asia 13.00 per cent from 12.0 per cent, show BB data.

 Among the nine foreign banks operating in Bangladesh, State Bank of India and HSBC raised 12 per cent each, and Al-Falah made it 13 per cent from 11 per cent. “This is a unhealthy competition, as banks need cash now,” said ex-Bangladesh Bank governor Salehuddin Ahmed.

Savings have become almost difficult for the low and limited income people because of rising inflation, he pointed out.The banks need to act rationally while fixing deposit and lending rates in order to ensure stability in the country's money market, he said.Meanwhile, the Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB) has asked its member banks to re-fix the interest rate on deposits at a maximum of 12.50 per cent and fix the same on lending at a maximum of 15.50 per cent. 

The decisions were taken at a recent emergency meeting of the key bankers' body.The move came after businesses expressed their fear over an adverse impact of the lending rate hike to a substantial level following the withdrawal of its capping.

The Independent/Bangladesh/ 12th Feb 2012