Prime Bank writes off Bismillah Group loans

Prime Bank has written off BDT 3.0 billoin embezzled by Bismillah Group in order to clean up its balance sheet. “We are not worried about Bismillah Group as the loan of the client was cleaned up from the balance sheet. In the meantime, the legal process to recover the money is also ongoing,” said Ahmed Kamal Khan Chowdhury, managing director of Prime Bank. He spoke at a media briefing at Hotel Purbani in Dhaka organized to mark 22nd founding anniversary of the bank. Golam Rabbani, deputy managing director of the bank, said some other banks were also the victims of the Bismillah Group scam but only Prime Bank’s loan was secured by collateral. Bismillah Group, which used to make terry towels for the export market, embezzled BDT 11.0 billion from five local banks with the help of bank officials between June 2011 and July 2012. The five banks intended to sell the properties Bismillah Group had used as the security to secure the loans.

Source:
http://www.thedailystar.net/business/prime-bank-writes-bismillah-group-loans-1391932
http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/04/17/170096

Bangladesh Bank (BB) meets 20 banks on loan recovery today

Bangladesh Bank has summoned 20 banks to a meeting today to discuss their lower loan recovery performance against their defaulted and written-off loans. A BB official told New Age on Sunday that the central bank had earlier issued a number of letters to the banks to speed up their loan recovery program, but they had not taken proper measures to reduce their defaulted and written-off loans. Under the circumstances, the central bank will arrange a meeting today with managing directors of 20 banks at the central bank headquarters in the capital. BB deputy governor SK Sur Chowdhury will preside over the meeting. The 20 banks are Janata Bank, Rupali Bank, Bangladesh Krishi Bank, Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank, AB Bank, Dutch Bangla Bank, National Credit and Commerce Bank, Jamuna Bank, Premier Bank, EXIM Bank, The Farmers Bank, The City Bank, Al Arafah Islami Bank, Uttara Bank, Bank Asia, State Bank of India, Woori Bank, Bangladesh Commerce Bank, ICB Islamic Bank and Commercial Bank of Ceylon. The central bank has selected the 20 banks considering their poor loan recovery performance between September 2015 and June 2016.

Source: http://www.newagebd.net/article/13623/bb-meets-20-banks-on-loan-recovery-today

School students to get stipend money through bkash

Stipend for the students of secondary schools will be disbursed through mobile financial service provider bKash in partnership with state-owned Agrani Bank Ltd to bring transparency and swiftness in the process. Education Minister Nurul Islam Nahid inaugurated on Sunday the scheme at a program organized by bKash at International Mother Language Institute (IMLI) auditorium in the city. The project was taken under Secondary Education Sector Investment Program (SESIP) initiated by the Education Minister and funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB).

Source:
http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/04/17/170126
http://www.dhakatribune.com/business/2017/04/16/students-get-stipends-bkash/

PKB gets Tk 500m more from Wage Earners’ Welfare Board

The Wage Earners’ Welfare Board (WEWB) provided Sunday Probashi Kallyan Bank (PKB) with Tk 500 million more to raise its paid-up capital for turning it into a scheduled bank. But the state-owned specialised bank still needs Tk 2.5 billion more to make it a full-fledged commercial bank. However, the Finance Division is expecting to provide the bank with Tk 2.5 billion from the coffer shortly to meet emergencies. According to the central bank regulations, a commercial bank must have Tk 4.0 billion as paid-up capital.

Source: http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/04/17/67125/PKB-gets-Tk-500m-more-from-Wage-Earners’-Welfare-Board

Govt to turn PKB as schedule bank soon

The government has decided to turn the Probashi Kalyan Bank as a schedule bank soon to enhance the banking services to the country’s migrant workers, expatriates’ welfare and overseas employment minister Nurul Islam said on Sunday. Speaking at a function at the ministry, he said there was no bar to make the PKB as schedule bank as all criteria were fulfilled in this regard.
Terming the remittance senders as golden sons of soil, the minister said PKB branches would be setup to all districts so that the migrants could avail the facilities from the bank. Nurul Islam urged the PKB officials to be more sincere to make the bank profitable so that it could survive for long time.
Source: http://www.newagebd.net/article/13593/govt-to-turn-pkb-as-schedule-bank-soon-minister

ONE Bank gives scholarships to meritorious students

ONE Bank Limited, one of the leading private commercial banks in Bangladesh, awarded scholarships to the poor but meritorious students of various educational institutions of Poradaha and other areas of Kushtia district at a programme at the Jessore Zilla School Auditorium in Jessore on Saturday

Source: http://www.newagebd.net/article/13634/one-bank-gives-scholarships-to-meritorious-students