No liquidity crisis in banking sector: governor

The banking sector has enough liquidity now, which is a matter of great comfort for the financial sector. Now the banks need to concentrate more on establishing a better corporate culture, which is a continuous process. The banking regulator cannot develop a corporate culture in banks through rules and regulations. Banks have to practise it. Al-Arafah Islami Bank announced that it had allotted Tk 4 crore for distribution among 800 students in total, each receiving Tk 44,000 a year for three to five years. Any student can apply for the stipend after passing higher secondary education. The relaxation of the cash reserve requirement by Bangladesh Bank in April pumped up Tk 20,600 crore in the banking system in June. Banks were sitting on an additional liquidity of Tk 97,500 crore at the end of June, up from Tk 76,900 crore in March. The bank has kept its default loan rate at 5 percent, which is satisfactory compared with the industry average of above 10.4 percent. But the bank’s credit growth is higher than those of deposits, which should be balanced, he suggested. Proper macroeconomic management helps the macroeconomy to remain stable. The banking sector’s CSR expenditure increased around 20 times to Tk 1,049 crore in June this year, up from Tk 55 crore in 2009, the governor said. “It’s a good sign for the banking sector.

Source: https://www.thedailystar.net/business/news/no-liquidity-crisis-banking-sector-governor-1664686

Banks, FIs should strengthen CSR activities

Bangladesh Bank (BB) governor Fazle Kabir on Saturday called upon the country’s commercial banks for strengthening corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to create skilled human resources. He said the country, which recently became eligible to graduate from LDC (least developed country) status, needs to overcome too many social and economic challenges for successful transition in the next 6 years. Suggesting banks and financial institutions (FIs) for coming out of the normal banking activities, he said income earnings or capital raise for development works will not be enough for achieving the goal. A total of 200 poor but meritorious students were awarded scholarship for their outstanding performances in the HSC (higher secondary certificate) examination-2018. Sharing the journey of the bank since 1995. AIBL is the first Islami bank in Bangladesh that is rated as B1 by credit rating agency Moody’s,” he added. According to the AIBL statistics, total deposit of the bank stood at Tk 280 billion with investment portfolio of Tk 260 billion and remittance earning worth Tk 40 billion.

Source: http://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/stock-corporate/banks-fis-should-strengthen-csr-activities-bb-governor-1543079931

Effective supply chain management can reduce cost of doing business

Inadequate infrastructure, delay at ports and limited access to finance are key barriers to improvement of supply chain management (SCM) in the country, speakers said at a roundtable on Saturday. Poor adaptation and application of technology by the businesses and paucity of skilled labour force at different levels of supply chain are also responsible for holding back the growth of local enterprises, they observed. The observations came at a roundtable titled ‘Challenges and Prospects of SCM in Bangladesh’ jointly organised by IPDC Finance Limited and Bangla business daily Banik Barta at a city hotel. IBM Blockchain Leader Mr Chandanani emphasised the importance of introducing Blockchain system in supply chain for making the business credible through transparent and rating-based operation. Blockchain is an open and cloud-based distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way. bKash head of supply chain, procurement, media & digital buying Md Rashedul Alam stressed the need for introducing and popularising academic courses on SCM to meet the growing demand for professionals in the sector. Reckitt Benckiser Bangladesh head of supply service Zia Uddin said e-commerce or IT-based companies will hit hard the traditional supply chain system in the country shortly. The staggering recent growth of such start-ups is strong evidence to the assumption.

Source: http://today.thefinancialexpress.com.bd/trade-market/effective-supply-chain-management-can-reduce-cost-of-doing-business-1543075393