NCC Bank Limited opens Baridhara Branch

NCC Bank Limited opened its Baridhara Branch at Gulshan North/East Avenue, Dhaka on Sunday. Chairman of the Bank Md Nurun Newaz Salim formally inaugurated the branch as chief guest.

Managing Director Golam Hafiz Ahmed presided over the function while Vice Chairman A.S.M. Mainuddin Monem, Chairman of the EC Committee S. M. Abu Mohsin, Directors M. A. Awal, Abdus Salam, Khairul Alam Chaklader, Md. Abul Bashar and K. A. M. Haroon attended as special guests. Senior Executive Vice President A. Z. M. Saleh gave the vote of thanks.

Chairman Md. Nurun Newaz Salim in his speech emphasized on extending modern banking facilities to the clients. He also stressed on social responsibility of the Bank and said that the Bank is not only a profit earning organization but also working for social welfare which will continue in future.

Managing Director Golam Hafiz Ahmed in his welcome speech cited various schemes of the Bank and said that NCC Bank is continuing its progress by acquiring satisfaction & trust of the clients. He emphasized on rendering best possible services to the business community of the area and requested the businessmen to avail of the services being offered by the bank. (source: press release)

Mutual Trust Bank (MTB) approves 20% stock dividend

The 15th Extra Ordinary General Meeting (EGM) and 16th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Mutual Trust Bank Limited (MTB) were held on March 30, 2015 at the International Convention City, Bashundhara, in the capital. MTB Chairman Rashed A Chowdhury, presided over both the meetings. MTB Vice Chairman MA Rouf, JP, Directors Dr. Arif Dowla, Md. Abdul Malek, Md. Wakiluddin, Khwaja Nargis Hossain,Q. A. F. M. Serajul Islam, Independent Directors, Anwarul Amin, Sultan Hafeez Rahman, Managing Director,& CEO Anis A Khan, Additional Managing Director, Md. Hashem Chowdhury and a large number of shareholders also attended the meetings. 

In the EGM, a special resolution was adopted on issuance of BDT 3,000 million coupon bearing non-convertible redeemable Subordinated Bond eligible as Bank’s Tier II capital. The shareholders attending the MTB AGM, approved 20% stock dividend for 2014. At the beginning, the MTB Chairman welcomed all the shareholders who attend the two meetings. In his address, he expressed his gratitude to the valued shareholders for keeping their faith on the board of directors and management, and requested for continued support and encouragement so that the bank can perform better in the future. A number of shareholders spoke at the meeting on the banks performance and raised various queries which were later on responded to by the Managing Director & CEO.

In 2014, MTB earned net profit after tax amounting to BDT962 million which was 67.74% higher than 2013 and the value of earning assets was BDT98,025.82 million. Earnings per share (EPS) grew to BDT3.12 from BDT 1.86. The bank's balance-sheet footing increased by14.95%, as at the end of 2014, compared to the previous year. Deposits grew by 15.09%, Loans and Advances rose by 29.54%. The Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) was maintained at 10.77%, compared to the required rate of 10%. MTB has expanded its network to 103 branches, 181 ATMs, 8 Kiosks, 1,900 Point of Sale (POS) devices including SMS and Internet banking and 24/7 Contact Centre till date. (source: press release)

Meghna Bank signs agreement with COAST

Meghna Bank Limited has signed Remittance payment Agreement with Coastal Association for Social Transformation Trust (COAST) at a simple ceremony at Meghna Bank Head Office on March 30, 2015. Under this arrangement 64 branches of COAST Trust will act as Remittance distribution channel of Meghna Bank Limited to facilitate Inward remittance of expatriates Bangladeshis residing abroad.     

Mr. Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, Executive Director of COAST Trust and Mr. A.F. Shabbir Ahmad, SEVP and Head of Operations of Meghna Bank Limited signed the Agreement on behalf of their respective Organizations.  Mr. Mohammed Nurul Amin, Managing Director and CEO of Meghna Bank Limited, Mr. Md. Mohashin Miah, AMD, Mr. Arif Quadri, DMD, Mr. Md. Nazrul Hossain, DMD, Mr. Md. Mojibar Rahman Khan, SVP and Head of Corporate Affairs and other Officials from both organizations were present at the ceremony. 

Dutch-Bangla Bank holds 19th AGM

The 19th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited (DBBL) was held on March 30, 2015 at Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel, Dhaka under the Chairmanship of Sayem Ahmed, Chairman, the Board of Directors of the Bank. The honorable Chairman welcomed the honorable Shareholders’ present in the AGM.

The Bank declared Cash Dividend @ 40% (i.e. Taka 4 per share of Taka 10 each). A lot of Shareholders’ participated in the discussion on the overall performance of the Bank in the AGM.

Among others, honorable Directors of the Board including Abedur Rashid Khan (Chairman, Executive Committee of the Board of Directors), Mr. Md. Fakhrul Islam, Mr. Md. Nazim Uddin Bhuiyan, FCMA (Chairman, Audit Committee of the Board of Directors), Mr. Mohd. Khorshed Alam, the Managing Director of the Bank Mr. K. S. Tabrez and Company Secretary Mr. Md. Monirul Alam, FCS participated in the meeting.     Mr. M. Sahabuddin Ahmed, Founder of Dutch-Bangla Bank & Chairman of Dutch-Bangla Bank Foundation was also present at the AGM.

The Audited Financial Statements of the Bank for the year ended December 31, 2014 were placed before the meeting and the members discussed the performance of the Bank. The honorable members expressed their satisfaction with the activities of the Bank during the year 2014.

Total assets of the Bank as at 31 December 2014 stood at Taka 215,993.5 million compared to Taka 185,537.3 million of 2013 registering a growth by Taka 30,456.2 million or 16.4%. Loans and advances of the Bank stood at Taka 124,423.0 million at the end of 2014, a growth of 16.9% over Taka 106,422.8 million at the end of 2013. The deposits grew by Taka 21,532.2 million in 2014 from Taka 145,230.1 million to Taka 166,762.3 million showing a growth of 14.8%.

In 2014, profit before tax increased by 27.4% and stood at Taka 4,518.8 million compared to Taka 3,547.0 million in 2013. Profit after tax increased by 10.3% and stood at Taka 2,206.6 million compared to Taka 2,000.8 million in 2013. During the year under review, earnings per share attributable to shareholders amounted to Taka 11.0 compared to Taka 10.0 during the previous year. Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) under Basel II stood at 13.8% against the Bangladesh Bank minimum requirement of 10.0%.

The meeting unanimously reappointed M/s. Hoda Vasi Chowdhury & Co. as the auditor of the Bank for the year 2015.

Bangladesh Opposition Leader Rowshan Ershad Holds Meeting with US Ambassador (Two Photos)

Bangladesh Opposition Leader Rowshan Ershad Holds Meeting with US Ambassador

Bangladesh Opposition Leader Rowshan Ershad Holds Meeting with US Ambassador

Bangladesh Traffic Jam Scenario (Three Photos)

Bangladesh Traffic Jam Scenario

Bangladesh Traffic Jam Scenario

Bangladesh Traffic Jam Scenario

Bangladesh Police in Action (2 photos)

Bangladesh Police

Bangladesh Police-2

Iftar at Bakshibazar of Dhaka in Bangladesh

Bakshibazar Iftar Items

Bakshibazar Iftar Items-2

Bakshibazar Iftar Items-3

Bakshibazar Iftar Items-4

Bakshibazar Iftar Items-5

Bogra Village

Bogra Village

Fire in Barisal

Fire in Barisal

Gazipur National Park - Illegal Activities on Ekusher Chock

Bangladesh: Loan release for industry expansion posts negative growth in FY14

Dhaka, August 15, 2014 (New Age): Term loan disbursement for opening of new industries and expanding existing ones registered a negative growth of 0.51 per cent in the recently concluded financial year compared with that of 19.93 per cent growth in the FY 2012-13 due to political unrest and uncertainty. According to the Bangladesh Bank data released on Thursday, scheduled banks and non-bank financial institutions disbursed Tk 42,311.32 crore in industrial term loans in the FY14 against Tk 42,528.31crore in the FY13. Industrial term loan disbursement in the FY12 was Tk 35,278.10 crore. BB officials said that the businesspeople had adopted a ‘wait and see’ approach to expansion of their industrial units amid the political unrest centring the January 5 general elections. The trend put an adverse impact on the industrial sector, they said. Four state-owned commercial banks — Sonali, Janata, Agrani and Rupali — and four specialised banks — Bangladesh Krishi Bank, Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank, Bangladesh Development Bank and BASIC Bank — disbursed Tk 1,393.65 crore and Tk 1,317.34 crore respectively in industrial term loans in the FY14 against Tk 5,723.75 crore and Tk 1,455.50 crore in the FY13. Industrial term loan disbursement by the foreign banks also decreased to Tk 1,281.10 crore in the FY14 from Tk 1,746.42 crore in the FY13. Term loan disbursement by the private commercial banks, however, increased to Tk 32,519.19 crore in the FY14 from Tk 28,719.74 crore in the FY13. A credit is treated as term loan tenure of which crosses one year while the loan with less than one year of tenure is treated as working capital, said a BB official. The businesspeople usually take the industrial term loans to set up new industrial units or to expand their existing industrial units, he said. The country’s industrialisation process has recently faced a stagnant situation due to the political unrest resulting that the term loan disbursement posted the negative growth in the first nine months of the FY14, he said. Industrial term loan disbursement may decline further in this financial year if the present political uncertainty persists, the official said. Besides, a number of industries have been facing production crisis for long due to the prevailing power crisis and gas shortage. ‘For this reason, entrepreneurs have failed to expand their business. As a result, they are reluctant to apply for bank loans,’ he said. Against the backdrop, the year-on-year private sector credit growth declined to 11.39 per cent in May from 11.86 per cent in April of this year. Such type of slow pace in industrial term loan disbursement will also impact negatively on the GDP growth, the official said. The BB data, however, showed that the overall industrial loan disbursement posted a 15.59-per cent growth in the FY14 compared with that of 30.13 per cent growth in the FY13 due to a higher growth in the working capital. Banks and NBFIs disbursed Tk 1,68,413.91 crore in industrial loans in the FY14 against Tk 1,45,693.87 crore in the FY13. Industrial loan disbursement in the FY12 was Tk 1,11,953.08 crore. The defaulted loans in the industrial sector also declined by 2.10 per cent to Tk 15,225.90 crore in the FY14 from Tk 15,553.05 crore, according to the BB data.

Bangladesh: Exports to US plunge, China surge, India rebound in July

Dhaka, August 15, 2014 (New Age): Country’s export to the US fell significantly but to China it continued to skyrocket and to India it rebounded in July, the first month of the financial year 2014-15. Export earnings from the US in July of the FY15 fell by 14.22 per cent to $501.04 million from $588.11 million in the same period of the FY14 due mainly to compliance issue in the readymade garment sector, experts and exporters said. According to the Export Promotion Bureau data, export to China in July grew by 53.88 per cent to $79.47 million from $51.64 million in the same period of the last financial year, maintaining the upward trend of FY14. Export to India rebounded and grew by 13.32 per cent to $39.17 million in the first month of FY15 from $34.57 million in the same period of the FY14, EPB data showed. ‘The key reason for the fall in export to the US market is that the market has lost its lucrativeness to some extent to the Bangladeshi exporters due to tough compliance issue,’ Nazneen Ahmed, senior research fellow of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies told New Age on Thursday. She said that the exporters were no longer eager to export to the US market as the US did not provide trade benefits for Bangladesh ignoring long-standing demand for the facility from the exporters. Alternative markets rather than US are comfortable for the exporters and a number of manufacturers concentrated on new markets, Nazneen said. She said that the rise of export to China was expected as the country shifted its industry to hi-tech and decided to import basic products from other countries. ‘Despite having duty-free access the export to India had maintained a decreasing trend in the last few years but recently the Indian government eased non-tariff barriers and export increased,’ Nazeen said. The export of RMG products to the US decreased to $468.19 million in July in the FY15 from $548.58 million in the same period of the FY14, the EPB data showed. The export of RMG products to China grew to $34.01 million in July in the FY15 from $22.79 million in the same period of the FY14 while the RMG export to India increased to $14.28 million from $12.89 million. The recent US data showed that Bangladesh’s apparel export to the US fell by 1.39 per cent to $2.45 billion in the first six months of 2014 from $2.48 billion in January-June of 2013. The export earnings from India fell by 19.03 per cent to $456.63 million in the financial year 2013-14 from $563.96 million of the FY 2012-2013 and the earnings figure was four-year low. The export earnings from China increased to $746.19 million in the FY14 from $458.18 million in the FY13, the EPB data showed. Echoing Nazeen Ahmed, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association vice-president Shahidullah Azim said that a number of US buyers pulled out their business from the Bangladeshi factories as the factories were located in shared buildings and failed to meet tough US compliance issue. He said that the buyers from China and India were flexible over the compliance standard. So the exports to the countries increased, he said.