A new branch of Prime Bank Limited was launched in the district, on Saturday. Deputy Commissioner, Md Siraj Uddin Ahmed, as chief guest, inaugurated the 96th  branch of the bank at a ceremony in Jamalpur town , says a press release.  Managing Director, Prime Bank Limited, M. Ehsanul Haque,  presided the inaugural ceremony.
It was addressed among others by Reazul Karim, deputy managing director, Prime Bank Limited, Advocate Baki Billah, acting president, District Awami League and Rezaul Karim Rejnu, president, Jamalpur Chamber of Commerce
and Industry.
The chief guest in his speech said, the new branch will play a vital role in transaction and dealings with the local people and the entrepreneurs of the district will get monetary help   to run their business.

News: The Independent/ Bangladesh/ July-10-2011

BRAC is playing a complementary role with the government in attaining millennium development goals for Bangladesh, said Mahabub Hossain, executive director of the development organisation.

Highlighting some success stories, BRAC has set a target to help the country achieve the MDGs by 2015 as it works to empower people and communities in areas of poverty, illiteracy, diseases and social injustice, said Hossain.

He delineated BRAC's mission at a news conference on the launch of its annual report in Dhaka yesterday.

“Our financial statement will increase accountability and transparency to the foreign loan givers,” said Hossain.

Reaching technologies to farmers to support food production, combating extreme poverty, reducing maternal and infant mortality, diversifying microfinance services, and climate changes are some of the highlights featured in the report.

“In the field of health and education and poverty reduction, the results have been very encouraging,” BRAC said in a statement.

BRAC's pre-primary education programme to encourage enrolment had almost 3.29 lakh children.

BRAC is currently working on reducing the dropouts and reaching the areas which are hard to reach and have fewer government schools. The non-formal primary schools in 2010 had almost 6.10 lakh students.

Similarly, in 10 districts, BRAC's areas of operation, the rate of maternal mortality has come down to 141 per thousand in urban areas and 157 in rural areas, remarkably close to attaining the MDG goal of 144, according to the report.

On the poverty alleviation front, beyond traditional microfinance, BRAC has reached out to almost 80,000 extremely poor households through asset and technical assistance transfer.

“We are trying to find a way to reduce poverty. We work for peace building instead of peace keeping in South Asian countries,” said Imran Matin, deputy executive director of BRAC International.

“We also work to develop the agriculture sector in Bangladesh,” said Monoranjan Mondol, head of BRAC's agriculture programme.

With efforts of BRAC and BRAC International put together, they have almost 13.8 crore people across the world within the reach of some kind of BRAC services.

Outside Bangladesh, BRAC has expanded its activities in nine other countries in Asia, Africa and Caribbean region.

News: The Daily Star/ Bangladesh/ July-10-2011

Mutual Trust Bank (MTB) limited has signed two agreements with Grameenphone for trading of government securities and on collection of bills at MTB centre in Dhaka recently.

Under the agreement, the mobile phone operator will invest in government securities through MTB, said a press release.

The agreement was signed to promote the secondary market for government securities in line with the objectives of the Ministry of Finance and Bangladesh Bank.

As per the other agreement, MTB will collect bills for GP's distributors and postpaid subscribers through its 67 branches, ATM booths as well as online banking interface located across the country.

Raihan Shamsi, deputy CEO and CFO, and secretary of the board of trustees, Tauhid Abdallah, director and member of the trustees of gratuity fund of Grameenphone, and MTB's deputy managing director M Ahsan-uz Zaman, signed the agreements on behalf of their respective organisations.

Among others, MTB Managing Director and CEO Anis Khan, and its Deputy Managing Director Quamrul Islam Chowdhury, GP Deputy Director (corporate finance and treasury) Mohammed Mainur Rahman Bhuiyan, General Manager (corporate finance) Nawed Wahed Asif and Manager (payroll and pension) Ruhul Quader, were also present on the occasion.

News: Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ July-10-2011

City Bank Ltd. introduced MasterCard Platinum International Debit Card, a first dual currency Debit Card in the country on July 5, says a press release. City Bank DMD and chief communication officer Mashrur Arefin and Platinum Suites Head of Corporate affairs Mohammad Ali Tinku has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on behalf their respective companies.  Platinum Suites comes with City Bank Platinum Card and given a special offer for all Platinum Card Holders to enjoy their Brunch and lunch at Café Nemo Global Cuisine Restaurant.

News: The Independent/Bangladesh/July-08-2011

It seems to be an Eid holiday in the capital city as most shops are closed, vehicles are limited and very few commuters are seen.

The scenario depicts a Dhaka city during the 48-hour countrywide hartal programme enforced by the main opposition BNP.

But the hartal seemed to have little impact on banking transactions. People were seen going to banks to have their necessary transactions.

The insides of the bank offices, however, were less crowded as they remain on usual days. Unlike on the other regular days, the bank officials seemed to be in a bit relaxed mood. They were not seen doing their works in haste.

“Hartal mainly put impact on cash transactions as it is difficult to carry cash on hartal days, but other transactions remain almost as usual,” said Salahuddin Ahmed, a senior officer of Social Islami Bank Limited.

There clients’ arrival into the bank was almost same as it is on non-hartal days, he added.

The banks in the port city of Chittagong also reportedly passed hartal days as like as those had in the capital city, although there were few vehicles on the streets and shops with locks hanging on the shutters.

An official of Pubali Bank Ltd in the port city said cash transactions were done on limited scale plus limited arrival of the clients.

An AB Bank official also commented similarly about banking activities during the hartal days.

Banks in the district and upazilla towns reportedly appeared with no difference on hartal days from the regular days.

“Although it was a hartal today, I saw no difference in transactions from other days,” said Zahir Uddin, cash officer of Rupali Bank Limited of Eid Goan branch in Cox’s Bazar.

Describing hartal situation in the district, he said bus movements were few limited but small vehicles were seen running as usual.

He said hartal seemed to have any impact on the activities including cash transactions in their branch.

An officer of United Commercial Bank Ltd (UCBL) Sherpur branch in Habiganj, however, said the transactions were on a limited scale and gate remained closed although clients came in few numbers.

An Agrani Bank officer of Nabinagar branch in Brahman Baria, however, said there was almost no impact of hartal in their branch.

                                                                                                                                      News: Daily Sun/ Bangladesh/ July-08-2011