Banks asked to give NRBs door-to-door services for remittance

Bangladesh Bank on Sunday asked the top 20 remittance receiving banks to provide door-to-door services to non-resident Bangladeshis by appointing agents abroad to increase the inflow of remittance through the banking channel. The BB directive came after the country’s inward remittance dropped in January year-on-year for the seventh month in a row. Earlier the BB observed that the inward remittance plunged in 2016 as a good number of expatriate Bangladeshis preferred illegal ‘hundi’ conduit to banking channel in sending their money. The central bank at a meeting on Sunday asked the 20 banks to sign agreement with more foreign exchange houses and foreign banks so that non-resident Bangladeshis feel encouraged to send their hard-earned money through the banking channel.

Source:
http://www.newagebd.net/article/8516/banks-asked-to-give-nrbs-door-to-door-services-for-remittance
http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/02/06/164052

Bankers seek commission waiver for small remitters

Top 20 remittance-recipient banks proposed to meet their commission on maximum US$200 inward remittance from their own CSR funds instead of deducting it from the remitter’s money. Such waiver of commission on small amounts of remittance, they think, will encourage remitters to send their money home through proper channel and thus boost the slow inflow of remittances. The recommendation was made at a view-exchange meeting with the officials of Bangladesh Bank (BB) in the central bank headquarters in Dhaka Sunday with BB Deputy Governor SK Sur Chowdhury in the chair. The chief executive officers (CEOs) and managing directors (MDs) of the commercial banks believe that such initiative for adjusting their commission against their CSR (corporate social responsibility) expenditure will help boost the flow of inward remittances.

Source: http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/02/05/61080/Bankers-seek-commission-waiver-for-small-remitters

More than 25.0% of Sonali Bank’s loans soured

Sonali Bank’s woes are showing no signs of respite, with the latest data showing that more than one-fourth of its total loans have become default — a development that is causing anxiety to both the finance minister and the central bank governor. At the close of 2016, the country’s second largest bank’s default loans stood at BDT 102.5 crore against the total loans of BDT 384.3 billion. In other words, 26.7% of Sonali’s loans have defaulted, up from 25.0% percent a year earlier. The average amount of default loans in the banking sector is 10.3%, whereas it is 27.0% in Sonali, said Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir. Also, of Sonali’s 1,208 branches 370 are loss-making, according to Kabir.

Source:
http://www.thedailystar.net/business/fourth-sonalis-loans-soured-1356655
http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/02/06/164050

Banking commission at the end of govt tenure: Finance minister

Finance minister AMA Muhith on Sunday said the government might appoint a commission for the country’s banking sector at the end of the present government’s current tenure. Although Muhith ruled out appointing a commission in 2015, he said the government is now considering to put it in place before 2019. Muhith was addressing the annual meeting of the state-owned Sonali Bank in the city. The current tenure of the present government would expire in January 2019. Muhith hoped that the next elected government would implement the recommendations of the proposed commission. He admitted that the government in the past did not accept recommendations from various sectors for appointing a commission. Centre for Policy Dialogue, a local think-tank, has long been demanding for appointing a commission against the backdrop of a series of loan scams in the banking sector.

Source: http://www.newagebd.net/article/8515/banking-commission-at-the-end-of-govt-tenure-muhith

DSE backs relaxed rules for brokers, merchant bankers

The Dhaka Stock Exchange yesterday urged the regulator to allow stockbrokers and merchant bankers to make share transactions in their clients’ margin accounts for another year so that they could recoup the losses from the market crash of 2011. The discretionary power, if the proposal gets through, will allow stockbrokers and merchant bankers to make buy-sell decisions without asking the clients for additional funds, in an effort to hold back the current downward trend in the market. Although the Dhaka bourse’s key index and turnover hit record highs last month, it declined more than 6.0% in the last eight trading days. DSEX, the benchmark index of the Dhaka Stock Exchange, crossed the 5,700-point mark for the first time in January, while turnover scaled a six-year high of BDT 21.0 billion. But the index closed at 5,322 points yesterday, while turnover came down to BDT 6.8 billion. Although the portfolio value of the margin accounts rose a bit during the price rally, they are still burdened with negative equity and the current downward trend worsens the scenario.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/dse-backs-relaxed-rules-brokers-merchant-bankers-1356640