The board of directors of Bangladesh Bank (BB) Sunday heard from the applicants about the business plans on three proposed banks before adjourning the meeting till Tuesday, officials said.
The proposed chief executive officers (CEOs) of the three proposed banks presented the business plans in the BB board meeting held at the central bank headquarters in Dhaka with BB Governor Atiur Rahman in the chair.
The proposed CEOs, Dewan Mujibur Rahman, Abdul Hamid Mia and Rafiqul Islam, represented the NRB Commercial Bank, Union Bank Limited and the South Bangla Agriculture and Commerce Bank Limited respectively.
"Presentations on three proposed banks have been completed," BB Deputy Governor SK Sur Chowdhury told reporters after the meeting.
Such presentations on another three proposed banks would be held on Tuesday, he added.
They are Meghna Bank Limited, Midland Bank Limited and the NRB Bank Limited.
Earlier on January 20 last, the proposed CEO of the NRB Commercial Bank presented their business plan before the board, which asked him to make a supplementary presentation covering more business aspects of the bank in the next meeting.
BB officials expected that the six proposed commercial banks would get the final nod from the board meeting Tuesday.
"Licenses will be issued, if the BB board is satisfied with the business plans of the proposed banks," Mr. Sur told the FE earlier.
The Banking Regulation and Policy Department (BRPD) of the central bank will issue non-objection certificate (NOC) to the proposed managements of the commercial banks on final approval of the board.
"We'll issue the NOC for both memorandum of articles and memorandum of understanding to the banks," another BB official said, adding that the bank managements would go to the joint stock companies and firms for obtaining licenses as bank companies.
"The BB then will issue licenses to the bank companies for running their business on compliance with all rules and regulations properly," the central banker noted.
Earlier eight proposed banks applied to the BB for licenses to start their business on compliance with the requirements as per the letter of intent (LoI).
The banks are Union Bank Limited, Farmers Bank Limited, Meghna Bank Limited, Midland Bank Limited, South Bangla Agriculture and Commerce Bank Limited, Modhumoti Bank Limited, NRB Commercial Bank Limited and the NRB Bank Limited.
Another proposed bank--NRB Global Bank Limited--has been allowed to complete the formalities, as required by the LoI, by March 31 this year.
On April 8 last year, the central bank accepted six proposals on running new private commercial banks (PCBs) to strengthen financial inclusion by bringing un-banked people under the banking network.
The BB earlier accepted proposals on three new commercial banks, sponsored by NRBs, to help boost the country's foreign exchange inflow.
Collected from The Financial Express (February 04, 2013)
by Mr. Siddique Islam
