Investigation into BB heist continues

A year after one of the most spectacular robberies of modern times, the authorities in Bangladesh are still trying to crack the case. Hackers into the country’s central bank sent instructions through SWIFT, a messaging network for cross-border payments, to transfer funds from the bank’s account with the New York Federal Reserve to private accounts in Sri Lanka and the Philippines. Much of the stolen $101m has yet to be retrieved; the masterminds are yet to be identified. But the probe reveals the strikingly sophisticated, and international, nature of the crime, reports The Economist. After sifting 60 hard drives and thousands of pieces of paper, and interviewing dozens of people, investigators, talking anonymously in Dhaka, say they are confident about some details of the heist. They believe foreign hackers acted with inside help. The attackers’ coding style has raised suspicions of involvement by North Korea. This week the New York Times reported that American federal prosecutors were examining this possibility. Egregious violations of the bank’s security procedures have also been uncovered. On the day of the robbery, its security cameras were disabled. A number of security protocols need to be met before the SWIFT system authorises a payment: one step, a physical key or dongle, was left plugged in for weeks, rather than locked away. Five of the hackers’ 70 messages were accepted as genuine by the New York Fed. But for basic slip-ups (some payment instructions, for example, were incomplete) the thieves could have made off with $1bn.

Source: http://www.theindependentbd.com/home/printnews/87166

Probe body says Bangladesh Bank caught fire from electric kettle

The probe committee formed over Thursday’s fire incident at the Bangladesh Bank (BB) headquarters in Dhaka has said the fire might have broken out due to a short circuit in an electric kettle. On Saturday, after visiting the spot, the five-member probe body, led Fire Service and Civil Defence Deputy Director (Dhaka division) Somorandro Nath, also said they were looking into whether it was an act of sabotage. Somorandro told the Dhaka Tribune: “Visiting the spot where the fire originated, we found an electric kettle socket burnt and a wall coated with soot, which led us to suspect that the fire broke out due to a short circuit in the kettle.” He claimed that the damage caused by the fire was minimal. “There was no major loss except a computer. Though there was a lot of smoke, it was not a big fire. Even, a towel on the chair next to the kettle was intact,” the official said. “We, however, asked the bank authorities to give us CCTV footage of that day. If we can detect any possible act of sabotage during the investigation, we will mention it in the report,” Somorandro added. The committee hoped to be able to submit its report to the authorities before the stipulated time. The fire broke out on the central bank’s 13th floor on Thursday night, which houses its Foreign Exchange Policy Department.

Source: http://www.dhakatribune.com/business/banks/2017/03/25/probe-bank-fire-kettle/

State FIs, IFIC to get recap funds

At present, a total of Tk2,000 crore has been allocated for recapialisation of the state-run banks. The two state-owned financial institutions and private IFIC Bank are going to get recapitalisation funds in the revised budget, official sources said. They said only Tk1,365.50 crore is left for recapitalisation which is likely to be disbursed among seven state-owned banks suffering capital shortfalls, including BASIC Bank and Sonali Bank. ProbashiKallyan Bank will get Tk250 crore while Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation will be given Tk200 crore. At present, a total of Tk2,000 crore has been allocated for recapialisation of the state-run banks. Finance ministry will provide Tk184.65 crore for the IFIC as the private commercial bank earlier decided to increase paid-up capital through issuance of rights share after considering bonus shares for stock dividend. The bank will issue one right share against one existing share at a price of Tk10 each on paid-up capital after considering bonus shares for stock dividend. The IFIC Bank was listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange in 1986. The bank belongs to the “A” category.

Source: http://www.dhakatribune.com/business/banks/2017/03/25/state-fis-ific-get-recap-funds/

State banks fail to improve bad loan situation

The observations came at a recent Finance Division meeting on capital shortfalls of seven state-owned banks with Finance Minister AMA Muhith in the chair. The default loan situation of the state-run banks has not improved while they received budget funds to meet capital shortfalls, observed Finance Division. It said the recapitalisation funds could only improve the banks’ balance sheet. The observations came at a recent Finance Division meeting on capital shortfalls of seven state-owned banks with Finance Minister AMA Muhith in the chair. The meeting said the capital shortfall of the BASIC Bank declined by Tk706 crore during last two fiscal years though the bank’s overall default loan situation has not improved. BASIC Bank received Tk2,390 crore from the budget allocation under the government recapitalisationprogramme. According to the Finance Division working papers, the capital shortfall of the BASIC Bank is Tk1,934.5 crore while the capital reserve ratio was only 7.55% in 2015. An amount of Tk9,457.60 crore were disbursed from the five years budget allocations for recapitalisation.

Source: http://www.dhakatribune.com/business/banks/2017/03/25/state-banks-fail-improve-bad-loan-situation/

Banks reluctant to open street children accounts

The country’s scheduled banks are still reluctant to extend their services to street children and child workers as they (banks) opened only 3,725 accounts for them (children) as on December 31, 2016. On March 10, 2014, Bangladesh Bank in a circular asked all banks to allow street children and child workers to open bank accounts with a Tk 10 minimum initial deposit. The central bank took the initiative to help street children develop saving habits and eventually help them step forward towards a better future. According to the latest BB data, the total deposits in the street children’s accounts stood at Tk 24.42 lakh at the end of December 2016. Seventeen of the 57 scheduled banks have so far opened these accounts. The banks are Sonali Bank, Janata Bank, Rupali Bank, Agrani Bank, Bangladesh Krishi Bank, Bangladesh Development Bank, Bank Asia, Mercantile Bank, Mutual Trust Bank, National Bank, Social Islami Bank, One Bank, Pubali Bank, The City Bank, Trust Bank, Al-ArafahIslami Bank and Uttara Bank. As per the BB guidelines, street children’s accounts should be operated by the non-government organisations nominated by the central bank. The NGOs concerned will nominate at least two of their staff to take care of this programme. One of the two nominated staff should come from the accounting department and the other from the field level. However, the NGOs should take the overall responsibility for operating the accounts, until the street children and child workers reach the age of 18.

Source: http://www.newagebd.net/article/11958/banks-reluctant-to-open-street-children-accounts

Payments for imports keep swelling in Jul-Feb

Country’s import payments increased by 11.13 per cent in the July-February period of the current fiscal year (2016-17) against the 5.58-per cent rise registered in the corresponding period of the FY 2015-16. According to the latest Bangladesh Bank data, letters of credit involving $29.84 billion were settled in the eight months of FY17 against $26.85 billion settled in the same period a year ago. A BB official told New Age on Thursday that the settlement of LCs, or actual import payments, soared in the July-February period of this fiscal year as the import of capital machinery and industrial raw materials increased significantly. In the period, import of industrial raw materials posted a growth of 2.01 per cent against the 4.24-per cent growth in the corresponding period of FY16. Settlement of LCs for industrial raw materials amounted to $10.77 billion in the eight months of the current fiscal year against $10.56 billion in the same period of FY16. The BB official said that the political unrest and uncertainty had recently eased that encouraged the businesspeople to import more industrial raw materials. The BB data showed that settlement of LCs for capital machinery import in the eight months of the current fiscal year witnessed a 58.55-per cent growth against the 15.46-per cent growth in the same period a year ago.

Source: http://www.newagebd.net/article/12024/payments-for-imports-keep-swelling-in-jul-feb

Agent banking getting popular

Agent banking is gaining popularity, particularly among Bangladeshis living abroad, because of its convenient and cost-effective nature. The business seems so attractive that some banks have dumped their mobile banking efforts and gone for agent banking. Agent banking offers limited banking and financial services to the underserved population by engaging representatives under a valid agency agreement. It is the owner of an outlet who conducts banking transactions on behalf of a bank. Remittance sent through agent banking was BDT 3.1 billion between October and December last year. Comparable quarterly figure for remittance sent through mobile banking was not available but migrant workers sent home BDT 81.2 million in December using mobile banking, according to data from the central bank. The total money transacted via agent banking stood at BDT 3.8 billion in December last year. However, mobile banking is still the most popular service in Bangladesh when it comes to sending and receiving funds locally. In January alone, BDT 252.1 billion changed hands via the mobile banking platform. Thirteen banks have so far received permission from the Bangladesh Bank to roll out agent banking services. Of them, 11 banks have already made a foray into the business. The number of agents is 1,646 and outlets 2,601, while the number of accounts is 544,536.

Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/agent-banking-getting-popular-1380442

Banks, financials lure investors most

Investors concentrated mostly on banks and financial institutions which dominated the market last week helping the Dhaka bourse close higher. The Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) featured a total turnover of Tk 58.9 billion in five sessions of the last week. And the average daily turnover value was Tk 11.8 billion, which was 13.5 per cent higher than that of the previous week. The DSE’s benchmark index DSEX rose 0.44 per cent or 24.96 points to close at 5,726.23 points. According to market reviews by institutions, investors’ participation in the sector comprising banks and financial institutions increased following the corporate declarations made for the year ended on June 30, 2016.

Source: http://print.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2017/03/26/168322