‘Limited knowledge of cybersecurity the reason behind BB heist’

The Bangladesh Bank cyberheist was the result of limited knowledge about the importance of cybersecurity in today’s world, said former Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman.“This incident could have been avoided if we had the proper idea about cybersecurity,” he said in an exclusive interview. Terming the heist a disaster, the former central bank governor said: “Any disaster is a learning experience. We have to learn what our mistakes were from this heist and move forward. Bangladesh Bank should put proper security measures in place.”He said just as several initiatives had been taken to protect workers’ safety in the aftermath of the Rana Plaza incident, the Bangladesh Bank has to formulate strict regulatory measures to ensure cybersecurity.

Source: http://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2017/08/10/limited-knowledge-cybersecurity-bb-heist/

BB, IFC team up for development of women SME entrepreneurs

Bangladesh Bank has signed an agreement with International Finance Corporation (IFC), a wing of the World Bank Group, for the development of women SME entrepreneurs.IFC will provide technical assistance to develop credit guarantee scheme for women entrepreneurs under the project, “Catalysing access to finance for women SME entrepreneurs in Bangladesh”.The proposed project is basically designed to provide technical assistance to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and special programmes development department of the central bank to develop credit guarantee schemes, Bangladesh Bank said in a statement yesterday.Besides, employees of the department will get training for their capacity building, according to the statement.Programmes to create awareness on the credit guarantee schemes will also be conducted for women entrepreneurs under the project.SK Sur Chowdhury, deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank, and Neeraj Verma, practice manager of World Bank, attended the meeting.In the meeting, representatives from World Bank highly appreciated the upbeat growth of SME sector in Bangladesh and they expressed their interest to work together in future.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/bb-ifc-team-development-women-sme-entrepreneurs-1446187

Bank liquidity rises on lending slowdown

Overall excess liquidity with country’s commercial banks increased, as of June, for a lending downturn.Sources in banking circles find two cardinal causes — lower credit growth, particularly in the private sector, and lesser government borrowing from the banking system — for the rise in excess liquidity.They said suspension of government borrowing from the banking system partly contributed to the surge in excess liquidity with the banks.The volume of excess liquidity rose to Tk 1.06 trillion in the last week of June from below Tk 1.0 trillion in May. It was Tk 1.23 trillion in the last week of December 2016, according to statistics with the Bangladesh Bank (BB).”Most of the excess liquidity has already been invested in the government-approved securities and BB bills as a risk-free investment for the banks,” a senior official of the central bank.

Source: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/08/10/180171

MTB inks deal with Asia Energy

Mutual Trust Bank Limited (MTB) has recently signed an agreement with Asia Energy Corporation (Bangladesh) Pty Ltd. at a simple ceremony held at the bank’s Corporate Head Office, MTB Centre at Gulshan in the city. Under this agreement, the employees of Asia Energy Corporation (Bangladesh) Pty Ltd. can avail Payroll Banking solutions through MTB Payroll Banking, said a statement.Gary Norman Lye, Chief Executive Officer, Asia Energy Corporation (Bangladesh) Pty Ltd. and Anis A. Khan, Managing Director & CEO, Mutual Trust Bank Ltd. (MTB) signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations.

Source: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/08/10/180167

Dhaka Bank inks deal for processing of Malaysia eVisa

Dhaka Bank has recently signed an agreement with Malaysia VLN Bangladesh Ltd. Under this agreement, the visa applicants of Bangladesh can apply for electronic visa (eVisa) of Malaysia through online portal and pay the visa fee by using debit or credit card of any bank. As a payment aggregator, only Dhaka Bank in the country will process the eVisa payment on behalf of Malaysia VLN Bangladesh Ltd. Akhlaqur Rahman, EVP & Manager of Gulshan Branch, Dhaka Bank and Hossain Mohammad Kawsar, Managing Director of Malaysia VLN Bangladesh Ltd. have signed the agreement on behalf of their respective organisations. Over the years, Malaysia has become one of the favourite destinations of Bangladeshi tourists.

Source: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/08/10/180169

BRAC Bank Limited signed an agreement with International Finance Corporation (IFC)

BRAC Bank Limited signed an agreement with International Finance Corporation (IFC) for promoting women entrepreneurs. This is the first of its kind in Bangladesh, a joint initiative of the IFC and Goldman Sachs Foundation. Under this agreement, BRAC Bank received USD 50 million from IFC for financing women entrepreneurs at preferential rate. Selim RF Hussain, Managing Director & CEO of BRAC Bank Limited and Ariane Di Iorio, Head of Financial Institutions Group, South Asia of IFC, recently exchanged the agreement at BRAC Bank Head Office in the city.

Source: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/08/10/180191

ADB approves $200mn for urban dev

Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved a loan package totaling $200 million to strengthen urban infrastructure, service delivery, and governance in Bangladesh’s municipalities.”Specifically, the additional financing for the third project, bringing total ADB financing up to $325 million, will contribute to building or improving 600 kilometers (km) of roads and 300 km of drains, and install or upgrade 180 km of pipes for water supply with 60,000 metered household connections,” said an ADB media release.It said slum improvement work will be undertaken in all project towns that have slums while sludge management facilities will be built in 14 project towns and solid waste sites built or improved in 20.This work will focus on drawing up plans to tackle poverty reduction, gender issues, slum improvement, community participation, and improving municipal financial management by completing the ongoing work on computerisation of tax records and billing systems. The implementation period for the project is August 2017 to June 2021.

Source: http://en.prothom-alo.com/economy/news/155863/ADB-approves-200mn-for-urban-dev

MTB Unit Fund declares 13pc dividend

MTB Unit Fund has declared 13 percent cash dividend for the unit holders for fiscal 2016-17. The announcement came at a meeting of the trustee committee of the MTB Unit Fund in Dhaka on Monday.Alliance Capital Asset Management Ltd is the asset manager of the MTB Unit Fund, while Mutual Trust Bank is the sponsor, Bangladesh General Insurance Company is the trustee and Brac Bank is the custodian.The unit holders, whose name appeared in the registers of MTB Unit Fund on 30 June 2017, will be entitled to receive the dividend.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/banking/mtb-unit-fund-declares-13pc-dividend-1446184

Trust Bank Limited and Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BWCCI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

Trust Bank Limited and Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BWCCI) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on capacity building of prospective women entrepreneurs in the city recently. Managing Director & CEO of the bank Ishtiaque Ahmed Chowdhury and President of BWCCI Selima Ahmad signed the deal on behalf of their respective organisations.

Source: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/08/10/180197

Rice import duty to see another 5% cut

The government has decided to cut the import duty on rice by another 5% to make the essential commodity more affordable for consumers.The decision came at a meeting held at Jatiya Sangshad on Tuesday following Monday’s Cabinet meeting, when Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina instructed the authorities concerned to effect the decision.Once the decision comes into effect, the import duty on rice will be halved from the existing 10%. The meeting also discussed the recent hike in the price of onions caused by floods across the country.The chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce Ministry, Tajul Islam Chowdhury, said the import duty on rice had already been cut once, to 10% from the previous 28%.“Prime Minister on Monday reduced the duty by another 5%, which means it will have only 5% import duty now. We expect that rice price would come down further thanks to the new move.”

Source: http://www.dhakatribune.com/business/commerce/2017/08/09/rice-import-duty-see/