Bangladesh Bank (BB) has issued some guidelines on uniform accounting procedures for Repo transactions of government securities by all scheduled banks and financial institutions.

In view to help the process of liquidity support, given by the central bank to the primary dealer banks of government securities, it has been decided to consider as Collateralised REPO Transaction instead of outright buy/sell.

The Department of Offsite Supervision (DOS) of BB issued a circular in this regard on Sunday.
The circular said the Collateralised REPO Transaction will only be applicable for taking liquidity support from central bank by the primary dealer banks of government securities.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 1st Feb 2012

The central bank yesterday issued a circular to clarify that non-bank financial institutions' investment in their subsidiary would not be considered while measuring their exposure to the capital market.

In line with the circular, long-term capital investment of non-bank financial institutions in other companies will not be considered as its exposure limits to the stockmarket.

On November 23, the Securities and Exchange Commission declared short-, mid- and long-term steps to stabilise the market.

The SEC said: “The loans provided by banks and financial institutions to their capital market subsidiaries and long term equity investment will not be taken into account while estimating their 'exposure to stock market'.”
The Bangladesh Bank has extended the deadline for financial institutions to adjust their single-party exposure relating to the stockmarket by one year to December 31 of 2013, according to the circular.

Single party exposure limit is 15 percent. It means if a financial institutions' paid-up capital is Tk 200 crore, it cannot lend more than Tk 30 crore to its subsidiary.

Besides, in case of provisioning stockmarket investment by financial institutions, gains and losses would be considered instead of net loss only.

The copies of the central bank circular have been sent to chiefs of all financial institutions.

The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 1st Feb 2012

Dr Atiur Rahman, governor of Bangladesh Bank, poses with the departing deputy governors of the bank: Nazrul Huda, Ziaul Hassan Siddiqui, and Murshid Kuli Khan at their farewell. The newly appointed deputy governors: Nazneen Sultana, Abu Hena Mohd Razee Hassan and Shitangshu Kumar Sur Chowdhury were also present.

The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 1st Feb 2012

Humaira Azam has been appointed deputy managing director of Bank Asia, the Bank said in a statement yesterday.

Prior to joining the Bank, Humaira was managing director and chief executive officer of IPDC of Bangladesh. She has a career of 22 years in the banking and financial sector.

Humaira completed her master's in social science and started her career as a management trainee at ANZ Grindlays Bank. She also worked for HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank in Dhaka in different significant capacities, according to the statement.

The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 31th Jan 2012

Budding bankers expecting the bumper bonuses of years gone by will have to think again, with only the top performers likely to be paid top dollar.

Business leaders and bankers at the annual Davos forum were largely dismissive of attempts to cap or restrict compensation in the financial services industry through regulation. But they said a combination of public anger, tighter scrutiny from watchdogs, tougher performance measures and a structural fall in profitability in banking in the post-crisis world would curb the excesses of the past.

"Compared to four years ago its night and day, partially because the regulators are insisting on it...and partly because the supervisory board of banks have said we have got to balance the reward of our senior team with the reward of our long-term shareholders. And part of it is the business model has changed," a senior investment banker at a major Wall Street firm said.

Part nationalized Royal Bank of Scotland, for example, said on Saturday that Chairman Philip Hampton would not pick up a share-based bonus, amid a backdrop of public anger over a 1 million ($1.6 million) stock bonus for its chief executive.
Compensation consultants estimate bonuses for 2011 fell by about 30 percent in 2011, with payouts dropping across major banks such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

Year-end bonuses at Barclays Plc's investment bank are expected to be down about 30 percent this year, on average, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

"Of course bonuses are falling, so is profitability," a senior European banker told Reuters on the sidelines of the conference on Saturday, following a meeting on the future of financial services involving top bankers and regulators.
Several business leaders, speaking candidly during closed meetings, pointed to growing social inequality and said there was a need for more effective tax collection from the best paid.

And while critical of regulatory efforts to cap executive remuneration, some blamed overly generous compensation packages on a lack of shareholder engagement in the issue.

"It should be up to the boards, not the regulators. Where are the shareholders of these banks?" the head of one investment bank told Reuters. Like others who spoke about the issue, he declined to be named.

A speaker on a panel on compensation at the World Economic Forum meeting in the Swiss Alps said: "Institutional investors are not that interested because the amount of money that is involved is totally immaterial." When asked for a show of hands on whether executive compensation should be regulated, nobody in the audience of nearly 100 people raised their hand.

The investment banking head said part of the problem was that many bankers had come to believe that they alone were responsible for the profits generated in their business, rather than the role which they fulfilled.

The Daily Independent/Bangladesh/ 30th Jan 2012