Unsettled Inland Bills
BB asks 30 banks to explain by January 19
Bangladesh Bank has issued show-cause notices to 30 scheduled banks to explain why they failed to settle their back-to-back inland bills against local letters of credit in line with the central bank’s directions. A BB official told New Age on Thursday that the central bank served the notices on the banks on December 23, asking them to reply to the notices by January 19, 2014.The BB earlier had asked the banks to settle their overdue inland bills by November 27 last year, but the banks had neglected the central bank’s directions, he said.
The official said the BB had organised a series of meeting with the banks in mid-November in which the banks had promised that they would settle the overdue inland bills by the BB-set deadline.
The overall acceptance bill overdue stood at around Tk 2,000 crore as on November 30, 2013 in the banking sector, he said.
The BB data, however, showed that the overdue bills of acceptance were Tk 3,643 crore as of March 31, 2013.
As per the BB rules, the banks have to settle the overdue acceptance bills against local LCs within 15 working days if there are no legal complexities.
‘But, the banks have not settling their overdue bills for a long time despite frequent attempts by the central bank. The BB will impose penalty on the banks if they fail to come up with appropriate reasons for their failure in settling the overdue bills in line with the central bank’s directions,’ he said.
The 30 banks which got the BB’s show-cause notices include Sonali Bank, Janata Bank, Agrani Bank, Rupali Bank, Bangladesh Krishi Bank, BASIC Bank, Southeast Bank, Bank Asia and The City Bank.
The country’s banking sector has been facing indiscipline for long due to the overdue inland bills as significant amount of funds of some banks remain stuck in the process, he said.
He said the BB had already introduced an electronic monitoring system named ‘Dashboard’ to bring discipline in the foreign exchange-related business in the banking sector.
The BB issued the show-cause letters to the banks by collecting information from the ‘Dashboard’, he said.
Another BB official said that the overdue inland bills, particularly those which resulted from the Hallmark Group and Bismillah Group scams, were yet to be settled that stuck a huge amount of money of some banks.
He said that some banks alleged that the banks concerned were reluctant to settle the overdue bills.
The official said the banks earlier had appealed to the central bank to take initiative in this regard.
Later the BB asked the banks to settle the overdue bills which are undisputed, he said.
Some overdue bills relating to the Hallmark Group and Bismillah Group scams with Sonali and other banks will not be settled in line with the BB directions as the Anti-Corruption Commission has filed cases with court in this connection, he said.
The court will take decision on the overdue bills, he said.
-With New Age input
