Bangladesh Bank yesterday asked banks in the country to closely monitor their agent banking programmes by appointing dedicated officials in order to ensure transparency of operations.

United Commercial Bank (UCB) yesterday decided to form subsidiaries in Qatar and the UAE to expand its Money Services Business (MSB) operations, according to a company disclosure on the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) website.

Bangladesh Bank yesterday asked banks to track shipments of goods which are exported with a view to tackling trade-based money laundering.

NRB Bank has recently appointed Md Shaheen Howlader as deputy managing director (DMD).

Commerzbank and German bank AKA Ausfuhrkredit-Gesellschaft mbH have extended a term loan of €28.63 million to local dredging solutions provider Western Engineering through City Bank under the coverage of export credit agency Atradius Dutch State Business.

The Bangladesh Bank yesterday imposed an interest rate cap on deposits and loans at non-bank financial institutions aligning with the ceiling now prevailing at banks although rates are rising globally to tame runaway inflation.   

City Bank’s profit rose by around 26 per cent in 2021, when the bank logged Tk 549 crore consolidated profit after tax.

Brac Bank has launched Quick Response (QR)-based transactions through its mobile app Astha to provide customers to carry out transactions conveniently.

The Bangladesh Bank yesterday said that the New York County Supreme Court has not given any judgement in a case filed against the three prime accused in connection with the 2016 reserves heist.

Al-Arafah Islami Bank, in collaboration with Mastercard, yesterday launched the first contactless Islami debit and prepaid cards in Bangladesh.

Shafiuzzaman has recently been promoted to the post of additional managing director of Bank Asia Ltd.

Bangladesh Bank yesterday drew up a classification and provisioning policy for a group of financial items of banks excluding loans and advances, terming it “other assets”, with a view to ensuring discipline in the banking sector.

A top United States court has dismissed a Bangladesh Bank case against a Philippines business entity, which was accused in the unprecedented cyber-heist faced by the central bank six years ago, according to media reports.

Nine banks, including four state lenders, suffered net losses in 2021, largely as a consequence of financial scams that forced them to set aside higher provisioning.

Banks had initially focused on using agent banking platforms to mobilise deposits from rural areas, for which lending took a back seat.

Standard Bank Ltd (SBL) virtually organised a seminar titled “Ramadan Taqwah and Banking” on the first day of the fasting month.

Bangladesh Bank yesterday warned banks not to show any unrealised interest gained from the rescheduled loans as their income.

Bank Asia has organised an orientation programme for its newly appointed management trainees and probationary officers at the Bank Asia Institute of Training and Development (BAITD) in Lalmatia, Dhaka on Monday.

Dhaka Bank Ltd recently signed an agreement with Canadian University of Bangladesh (CUB) to provide banking facilities to the students of the university.

One Bank recently signed an agreement with Academia on digitisation of payment collection and operational management through OK EMS (Education Management Solution).