bangladesh bank - Dhaka Mirror

Brac Bank, BB hold training for entrepreneurs

Admin — Thu, 15 Sep 2022 20:41:01 +0000

Business Desk : dhakamirror.com

Brac Bank conducted a training with technical assistance from Bangladesh Bank for 50 promising entrepreneurs.

The “Entrepreneurship Development Programme” was held in two phases at the lender’s head office in Dhaka yesterday, said a press release.

The programme is funded by Asian Development Bank and managed by Skills for Employment Investment Programme Project, SME and Special Programmes Department of BB.

Md Obaidul Hoque, executive director of Bangladesh Bank, and Selim RF Hussain, managing director of Brac Bank, were present.

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Bangladesh Bank dismisses news of scrapping Tk 1,000 red-coloured notes as rumour

Admin — Wed, 11 May 2022 13:58:48 +0000

The central bank has brushed aside as simply a rumour the news that the Tk 1,000 red-coloured bank notes will be scrapped.
The news to withdraw the red-coloured banknotes of Tk 1,000 denomination by the regulator that spread on social media is fake, the banking regulator made the announcement through a notice.
The announcement came after a notice—claiming to be from Bangladesh Krishi Bank and without containing a letter head of the bank—says it will not accept red-coloured notes after May 30 this year.
Moreover, the red-coloured banknotes will be invalid after May 30, said the notice where name of the signee and the branch of the bank is blurred too.
Later, Bangladesh Bank said it did not issue any instruction regarding withdrawal of any note. The banking watchdog urged people not to pay any heed to such rumour or fake information.
“This is a completely fake information,” said Md Serajul Islam, spokesperson of the BB, regarding the fake notice circulated in the social media.

– With The Daily Star input

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Banks to remain open on April 30

Admin — Thu, 28 Apr 2022 10:31:59 +0000

The Bangladesh Bank today asked banks to keep their doors open and run operations on a limited scale on April 30, a public holiday, in order to settle the increased number of financial transactions ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr.
In 2022, the number of banking transactions have increased substantially year-on-year, which has also fuelled cash withdrawals and deposits with banks, according to a BB notice.
Clients will be able to do banking between 9.30am and 1pm on Saturday, after which bankers have to complete their relevant work by 2.30pm.
In addition, the central bank asked banks to keep their selective branches open on Friday (tomorrow) to facilitate payment of salaries, wages and festival allowances to garment workers.
The branches located in the Dhaka city, Ashulia, Savar, Tongi, Gazipur, Bhaluka, Narayanganj and Chattogram will have to remain open.
The garment factory owners will have to pay salaries, wages and festival allowances for Eid-ul-Fitr to their workers in time.
On Friday, clients will be allowed to settle their banking transaction between 9.30am and 12.30pm in the areas, after which bankers will be permitted to complete their relevant operations by 3pm.
Eid-ul-Fitr, the largest religious festival of the Muslims, is scheduled to be celebrated either on May 2 or 3 depending on the sighting of the moon.

– With The Daily Star input

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Al-Arafah, Mastercard bring contactless cards

Admin — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 08:41:27 +0000

Al-Arafah Islami Bank, in collaboration with Mastercard, yesterday launched the first contactless Islami debit and prepaid cards in Bangladesh.
The move came after Bangladesh Bank last month gave the green light to roll out contactless debit and prepaid cards with a view to pushing digital transactions in the country.
Contactless cards facilitate payment just by waving them at the point of sale (POS) terminal without the need for any signature or PIN verification. The cards are embedded with near-field communication technology that allows secured payments.
The central bank first introduced the technology only for credit cards in July 2018.
The contactless cards were launched at a ceremony at Sonargaon hotel in Dhaka.
“We take pride in collaborating with Mastercard to introduce its first Islami debit card. We strongly believe the card’s value propositions will facilitate transactions for our valued cardholders,” said Farman R Chowdhury, managing director and chief executive officer of the bank.
“Mastercard is delighted to partner with Al-Arafah Islami Bank to launch its first contactless debit and prepaid cards,” said Syed Mohammad Kamal, country manager for Bangladesh at the global financial services company.
The launch is in line with Mastercard’s commitment towards bringing smoother, faster and safer payment solutions and also a significant step in support of Bangladesh Bank’s recent move to increase adoption of contactless cards in the country.
There are about one lakh POS terminals in Bangladesh and about half of them are equipped to process contactless transactions.
“Since about 90 per cent of cards are debit, contactless cards for the segment will bring convenience for a vast number of customers and eventually push the cashless dream of the country ahead,” Kamal said.
The POS terminals would have a compatible reader where the card would be waved for authenticating transactions.
Payments of up to Tk 3,000 can be made using the contactless method and it is up to the customer to choose this option or use regular modes of payment that require a signature or keying in the PIN number. Banks in Bangladesh issued 2.56 crore debit cards and 11.98 lakh prepaid cards as of January this year.
“Card usage is still concentrated in the cities and we need to take it to the rural areas,” said Mezbaul Haque, general manager of the payment systems department at Bangladesh Bank.
“The banks have a huge opportunity to expand their business in those areas and this is one area we all should work together,” he added.
Vikas Varma, chief operating officer for South Asia at Mastercard, virtually participated in the event.

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Agent banking transactions top Tk 50,000cr

Admin — Mon, 11 Apr 2022 12:16:50 +0000

The amount of money transacted through agent banking exceeded the Tk 50,000-crore mark for the first time in January 2022 as the service has managed to expand its reach in the country’s rural areas.
The Bangladesh Bank gave agent banking licence in 2014 with a view to bringing the unbanked people under the formal banking channel by taking the services to the remote locations of Bangladesh.
After the formation of agent banking guidelines in 2013, Bank Asia launched the service in January 2014.
The central bank has so far issued licence to 28 banks to run agent banking service. Of them, 26 banks are providing the service to the customers.
Transactions through agent banking accounts reached Tk 52,172.8 crore in January 2022 from Tk 49,139.3 crore in the previous month.
The transaction was Tk 34,078.6 crore in January 2021 and Tk 18,584.2 crore in the same month a year ago.
Of the transactions, transactions in the rural areas stood at Tk 41,415.9 crore, accounting for 79.38 per cent of the total transactions through agent banking wing.
On the other hand, transaction in the urban areas was Tk 10,756.9 crore, which is 20.62 per cent of the total transactions made through the agent banking.
Along with the surge in transactions through agent banking wing of the banks, the number of agent banking accounts in the country reached almost 1.5-crore mark with the number stood at 1.44 crore in January 2022.
In January 2021, the number of agent banking accounts was 1.01 crore.
Of the accounts, 77.83 per cent or 81.91 lakh accounts were opened in the rural areas while the remaining 22.17 per cent or 23.33 lakh accounts were opened in the urban areas.
In terms of holding customer accounts, Bank Asia is leading all other banks while Dutch-Bangla Bank, Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited, Al-Arafah Islami Bank and Agrani Bank are following suit.
Following the Covid outbreak in the country, agent banking has become more relevant as a concept as the banks opted to refrain from opening branches during the outbreak to stay cost efficient.
The number of agents and outlets of the banks also grew sharply in the last couple of years after the Covid outbreak.
The number of agents of the banks rose by 76.45 per cent in the last two years to reach 14,081 in January 2022 from 7,980 in the same month of 2020.
Besides, the number of bank outlets increased by 69.83 per cent or 7,975 to 19,396 in January this year from 11,421 in the same month of 2020.
Bankers said that the agent banking service was much effective during the pandemic when the banks were very busy with implementing the stimulus packages.
Besides, the cost involved in agent banking is far lower than opening a branch and that’s why agent banking allows banks to gain a foothold in areas where it would not become viable for the banks to have a presence by opening a branch, they said.
Besides, a segment of people do not get effective services from the branches due to their low transaction volumes and agent banking plays a vital role in fulfilling the needs of these people, they said.
Alongside gaining a foothold in the rural areas through agent banking, the service allows the banks to strengthen their presence even in the urban areas, the bankers said.
Though the transaction through agents reached new height, the banks’ lending through agent banking dropped to Tk 455.5 crore in January 2022 from Tk 552.4 crore in the previous month.
The lending, however, in the last two years increased significantly from Tk 70.6 crore in January 2020.
Of the lending made in January, the banks disbursed Tk 287.8 crore for the rural areas against their disbursements of Tk 167.7 crore for the urban areas.
Apart from the loan disbursement, the agent banking wings have also emerged as a cost-efficient way of deposit mobilisation for the banks with the volume of deposit collection through agent banking reached Tk 24,003.0 crore in January 2022 from Tk 7,725.8 crore in the same month two years ago.

-With New Age input

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BB launches Tk 1,290cr CMSE loan scheme

Admin — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 13:40:09 +0000

The Bangladesh Bank on Thursday launched an Asian Development Bank-funded $150 million or Tk 1,290 crore in refinance scheme to support setting up cottage, micro and small enterprises by returning migrant workers, youths and rural enterprises.
Under the project, the returning migrants, youths and rural enterprises will receive loans from the banks at the rate of 5.5 per cent for up to five years.
A BB guideline issued on the refinance scheme said that the CMSEs would get up to Tk 50 lakh from the refinance scheme.
Working capital or short-term loan will be provided for one year, medium-term loan will be provided for maximum three years and long-term loan will be given for maximum five years, it said.
As per the BB’s guideline on the project, supporting post-Covid small-scale employment creation, the banks would receive fund from the central bank at the rate of 1.5 per cent interest.
The tenure of the refinance scheme would expire in June 2025.
The banks and non-bank financial institutions, which would be disbursing the loans, would decide on the collateral issue based on Bangladesh Bank’s prudential guidelines and circulars.
In issuing loans, the migrants who have returned since the beginning of 2020 would be considered as eligible for the loans.
The unemployed or underemployed youth aged between 18-45 years and have received training from the government-approved institutions will get the finance.
In financing rural CMSEs, individuals residing outside Dhaka and Chattogram metropolitan areas would get the scope, the BB guideline said.
As per the guideline, at least 20 per cent of the qualified enterprises under the project must be women-led enterprises.
To be considered a women-led enterprise, women must have at least a 51 per cent stake in such entity. Besides, 60 per cent women managerial staff in any entity or enterprise would also make the entity a women-led enterprise.
The BB guideline said that the banks and financial institutions would be completely liable for the recovery of loans and there would be no relation whatsoever between recovery of loans and advances from the beneficiary and repayment of fund taken as refinance under this project.
Apart from the refinance scheme, the central bank would implement the second phase of a stimulus package of Tk 20,000 crore meant for the cottage, micro, small and medium entrepreneurs.
So far, the banks have disbursed around Tk 6,818 crore from the package.
Under the package, the government is paying 5 percentage points out of 9 per cent interest.

-With New Age input

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Soft Tech Innovation gets BB’s PSO licence

Admin — Wed, 23 Feb 2022 12:50:16 +0000

The Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday gave licence to Soft Tech Innovation Ltd to operate as a payment system operator under its brand name of aamarPay, taking the country’s total PSO licensees to seven.
The central bank’s payment systems department issued a circular on Tuesday, saying that the licence was issued under the Bangladesh Payment and Settlement Systems Regulations-2014.
aamarPay has received the licence to provide PSO service as a merchant aggregator, it said.
aamarPay works on money management for online businesses by providing clean, developer-friendly APIs and hassle-free integration, as per the entity’s web site information.
‘We offer a fast, affordable and secure way for merchants, schools, ecommerce and other companies to accept and disburse payments online, and also we aim to provide best B2C super app experience through our flagship product — aamarPay App,’ it said.
Apart from aamarPay, five other existing PSO licensees are IT Consultants Ltd, SSL Commerz Ltd, ShurjoMukhi Ltd, Portonics Limited and Walletmix Limited.
As per the BB rules, PSO operates a settlement system for payment activities between or among participants of which the principal participant must be a scheduled bank or financial institution likes of payment gateway and payment aggregator.

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Nagad Ltd barred from opening trust-cum settlement account without approval

Admin — Tue, 07 Sep 2021 15:11:01 +0000

The Bangladesh Bank has asked banks not to open any trust-cum settlement account (TCSAs) under the name of Nagad Ltd. The central bank issued a letter to banks on September 2 asking them not to open such accounts in the name of Nagad Ltd without its prior approval and the Bangladesh Post Office (BPO). Nagad is the brand name of the BPO’s mobile financial service (MFS). Many MFS clients usually do not spend all of their money immediately after they funds are deposited in the accounts. The unused funds are collectively significant, which are deposited at TCSAs. Third Wave Technologies Ltd, which is the master agent and technological and logistic support provider to the BPO to operate the MFS, earlier opened TCSAs under its own name. But Third Wave has recently renamed as Nagad Ltd. A BB official said that Third Wave had recently wanted to change the name of the holder of TCSA in the name of Nagad Ltd and requested banks eventually. “Some banks wanted our directive whether they should change the name of holder of TCSAs. We asked them to refrain from doing so as Post office is yet to inform us. Post office should inform us,” he said. In March 2019, Nagad started as MFS of the BPO, and it has since been operated by Third Wave Technologies Ltd, which renamed itself as Nagad Ltd in February this year, allegedly without informing the BPO. Contacted, Muhammad Zahidul Islam, head of Public Relation of Nagad, said, changing the name of the company and opening TCSAs is an ongoing process. Such processes will be completed by maintaining regulatory requirements, he added.

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No advance payments in e-commerce: BB

Admin — Mon, 30 Aug 2021 09:00:30 +0000

Bangladesh Bank yesterday said e-commerce platforms would not be able to receive payments in advance for any products or services rendered.
Some e-shops instruct shoppers to deposit money directly into their respective bank accounts before delivering a product or service, breaching Bangladesh Bank regulations.
As per the digital commerce guidelines 2021, there is no scope to make these types of advance payments, according to a central bank notice.
Bangladesh Bank has asked lenders to monitor the accounts of e-commerce companies by way of verifying the transaction profiles.
On top of that, banks have to analyse the characteristics and risks of the accounts as a whole, it said. The central bank move comes in tune with requests made by the commerce ministry in a letter sent to its governor, Fazle Kabir, on August 26.
The ministry said the e-commerce companies had followed the method to bypass digital commerce guidelines.
In July, the commerce ministry decided to hold payments from being made by customers to local e-commerce platforms until consumers received the purchased items.
The development followed rising allegations against a number of digital commerce platforms that they were not delivering goods and products in a timely manner or delaying too much against advance payments made by consumers for the products.

-With The Daily Star input

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Mobile banking to get a further boost

Admin — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 04:58:26 +0000

Mobile banking will get a further boost as the central bank proposes to channel all financial payments through mobile phones under stronger tie-ups between banks, cell phone operators and other service providers. The draft Regulatory Guidelines for Mobile Financial Services in Bangladesh, published on Monday, will turn every mobile phone into a digital wallet and spur branchless banking, a Bangladesh Bank official said.
The draft said the financial sector has undergone tremendous growth in volume and complexity over the recent years.
However, despite impressive growth gains in capital base, income, return on equity and other areas, the financial sector is yet to reach out with adequate financial services to low-income rural and urban population.
Rapid countrywide expansion of mobile phone networks and the modernisation of payment systems and financial sector IT infrastructure opened up opportunities for innovating mobile phone-based cost efficient modes of service delivery, the draft said.
The central bank started providing mobile banking licences to banks in 2009. On average, Tk 420 crore is transacted a day through mobile banking with activities mostly limited to cash-in and cash-out and person-to-person transfers. Salary disbursement and utility payments through mobile phones have remained very negligible.
Mobile operators have 100 percent coverage across the country and own up to 30 percent share into a mobile financial services (MFS) platform.
“The new guideline will help enhance transparency and accountability,” the central bank official said.
The primary role of the MFS platforms will be as payment services providers, with secondary engagements in deposit taking, loan disbursement and recovery, and insurance premium collection, according to the new proposal.
The MFS platforms will not engage in any lending from their own funds, but will be free to act as agents of BB-licensed banks and financial institutions in disbursing loans and in accepting repayments on behalf of the licensees.
Likewise, the platforms will be free to mobilise savings of mobile account holders into their deposit accounts with authorised deposit-taking institutions such as banks and financial institutions maintaining required cash reserves.
It will not be obligatory for the MFS platforms to pay interest or profit on balances in the accounts, the proposal said.
The initiative will enable disbursement of inward foreign remittances and cash-in or cash-out into mobile accounts through agents, bank branches, ATMs and mobile network operator outlets.
Person to business payments such as utility bill payments, merchant payments, deposits into savings accounts or schemes with banks, loan repayments to banks, non-bank financial institutions or micro-finance institutions, and insurance premium payments to insurance companies can also be made.
Companies can disburse salaries and dividends into mobile accounts. Loan disbursement to borrowers and vendor payments will also be possible.
Banks alone or in association with other banks will have to form a separate subsidiary if they want to provide MFS, according to the proposal.
At present, banks run MFS as a wing of the company, but the proposed guideline stipulates that they set up a separate platform with a minimum paid-up capital of Tk 100 crore.
A further cushion of capital reserve matching the amount of paid-up capital will have to be built up from retained earnings, at a rate not below 10 percent of annual net profits, to cover operational and other risks.
The proposal said the MFS platforms will be sponsored and led only by commercial banks. It also offers opportunities to mobile phone operators to be an active part in the system.
The MFS platforms may have both banks and non-bank entities, including mobile network operators, as equity holders.
In that case, banks will hold the majority beneficial ownership in total equity, while no bank or non-bank entity can hold more than 15 percent ownership.
The beneficial ownership of telecom operators in an MFS platform should not exceed 30 percent of its total equity.
Since 2009, 28 banks took licences for mobile banking. Of them, 20 started operations, four lost licences, while the rest are in the process to launch the service.

-With The Daily Star input

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