Bangladesh Bank rejects IFIC Bank plea to buy loss-making US exchange house for $3m

Bangladesh Bank has rejected an application of IFIC Bank Ltd to purchase a loss-making exchange house in United States for USD 3.0 million. IFIC Bank Ltd submitted the application to the central bank on November 6, 2016 requesting to allow it to purchase a US-based exchange house namely Sunman Global Express Corporation. The bank in its application said that it wanted to purchase 100% shares worth USD 3.0 million of the exchange house to expand its business to United States. A BB official told New Age on Tuesday that it was not logical that any bank would purchase such type of a loss-making exchange house by spending USD 3.0 million or BDT 24 crore. The IFIC Bank in its application said that the exchange house had taken license in 1998 from NYS Department of Financial Services of US and it had earlier operated business namely Rupali Exchange Inc.

Source: http://www.newagebd.net/article/6697/bb-rejects-ific-plea-to-buy-loss-making-us-exchange-house-for-3m

ACC asks for documents from Farmers Bank

The Anti-Corruption Commission has sent a letter to Farmers Bank Limited asking for documents in connection with its ongoing inquiry into alleged irregularities in lending Tk 171 crore by the bank’s managing director and other directors. Commission’s deputy director Jahangir Alam sent the letter to Farmers Bank managing director AKM Shameem on Sunday asking for the documents of approved loans worth Tk 135 crore given by its Gulshan branch and Tk 36 crore given by Motijheel branch.

Source: http://www.newagebd.net/article/6709/acc-asks-for-documents-from-farmers-bank

BDT depreciates against US dollar again

The Bangladesh currency depreciated maximum six paisa against the US dollar in a single-day knock Tuesday, after nearly two weeks’ interval. According to treasury officials of commercial banks, the dollar was quoted at BDT 78.70-Tk 78.76 on the inter-bank foreign exchange market Tuesday against BDT 78.70 of the previous working day. They also said the international trading currency had been quoted at BDT 78.70 as single rate since December 29 last year.

Source: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/01/11/161741

Move to make insurance for migrants mandatory

The government moves to make mandatory insurance policies for outbound Bangladeshis to cover financial and other losses they could suffer while living and working abroad, sources said. More often than not, the expatriates fall victim of deception sometimes by recruiters and sometimes by foreign employers. They do not give assured jobs, and benefits when the expatriates encounter accidents abroad. Bangladesh sends more than half a million workers to different parts of the world but does not currently have such insurance policies for them. People who work for rights of the expatriates said such system should have been participatory in order to avoid any rise in migration cost, which stands too high.

Source: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/01/11/161697