Alhaj Mohammad Hasan, Chairman of Shahjalal Islami Bank, presides over the executive committee meeting of the Bank at a hotel in Chittagong recently.

Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited (SJIBL) organised its 474th executive committee (EC) meeting at a hotel in Chittagong recently.

Alhaj Mohammad Hasan, chairman of EC of the Bank, presided over the meeting, said a press release.
The members of the executive committee discussed various issues relating to investment in different sectors.

Among others, Alhaj Anwar Hossain Khan, chairman of board of directors, Alhaj Akkas Uddin Mollah, Alhaj Mohammed Solaiman, Alhaj Tofazzal Hossain, directors, Md Abdur Rahman Sarkar, managing director and Md Abdul Jabber Chowdhury, deputy managing director were present in the meeting.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 8th March 2012

HONG KONG: Banking giant HSBC said yesterday it has agreed to sell its general-insurance businesses in Hong Kong, Singapore, Argentina and Mexico for around $914 million.

The move is part of the bank's strategy to cut costs and focus on growth, HSBC Group Chief Executive Stuart Gulliver said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange.

"It will enable us to focus our capital and resources on the growth of our core businesses, including the building of our broader wealth management capabilities," he said.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 8th March 2012

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is to help Bangladesh rollout planned transport projects to accelerate growth and stimulate economic activity across South Asia and beyond.

The ADB Board of Directors already approved a technical assistance of $23 million for the Subregional Transport Project Preparatory Facility, which will be used to hasten the passage of road and rail projects earmarked as priorities for the development of regional transport projects.

The government of Bangladesh will provide an additional $4.59 million for a total project cost of almost $28 million. The Roads and Highways Department (RHD) and Bangladesh Railway (BR) will be the executing agencies for the project, which is due for completion in June 2013.

Newly appointed Country Director of ADB’s Bangladesh Resident Mission Teresa Kho will meet Railways Minister Suranjit Sengupta at the latter’s Secretariat office today to discuss the issue, according to the ministry. 

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 8th March 2012

Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Atiur Rahman said bank notes are not only the medium of barter but also reflect the country’s heritage and culture.

He said almost every country in the world shows the portraits of their fathers of the nation on currencies as a means of showing honour and gratitude to the national leaders

Atiur was addressing a ceremony organised by Bangladesh Bank to formally release three new bank notes of Tk 10, Tk 20 and Tk 50 imprinted with the portrait of Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman at the BB conference room on Wednesday.

Hours after releasing the new notes, the central bank however has withdrawn the new Tk 50 note as a spelling mistake of Shilpacharya Zainul Abedin on it was identified.

We have chosen March 7 to release these new notes considering the historic importance of the day, the BB governor said in his speech.

He also informed that metallic coins worth Tk 5 each, imprinted with the portrait of Bangabandhu, would also be circulated in the market soon.

The central bank primarily released a total of 1 million pieces of each denomination. Governor of Bangladesh Bank Dr Atiur Rahman signed the notes.

Eminent artist Mustafa Monwar, Director General of Security Printing Corporation (Bangladesh) Ltd (SPCBL) Ziauddin Ahmed and deputy governors of Bangladesh Bank, among others, also spoke on the occasion.

Following the official launching of the new notes, the BB started distributing the notes at its headquarters yesterday. The notes will be available at all branches of BB and commercial banks across the country from now on.
All the metallic coins and paper notes, running currently, will also exist in the market.

While addressing the ceremony, Mustafa Monwar said the new notes contain some special security features, making counterfeiting almost impossible.

He also viewed that the portrait of Bangabandhu is the symbol of country’s independence while agriculture still remains the base of the country’s economy.

So the portrait of Bangabandhu along with the illustration of agriculture have made an appropriate combination, he added.

The Daily Sun/Bangladesh/ 8th March 2012

Bangladesh Bank yesterday released three banknotes of Tk 10, Tk 20 and Tk 50 denominations with the image of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to mark the historic 7th March. 

The Daily Star/Bangladesh/ 8th March 2012