Robbers looted Sonali Bank's Ruma branch in Bandarban last night. They also  kidnaped the bank manager Nizam Uddin. Meanwhile, Two branches of Sonali Bank and Krishi Bank have been attacked in Thanchi of Bandarban today (3 April), about 15 hours after Sonali Bank's Ruma branch was attacked by armed robbers yesterday. The incident took place around 12:30pm on Wednesday (March 3), said Thanchi Police Station Officer-in-Charge (OC) Jasim Uddin.  Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said in a press briefing that members of the militant outfit Kuki Chin are involved in the bank robberies in Bandarban. The Kuki Chin robbers has looted around Tk2.5 lakh from Krishi Bank's Thanchi branch, according to Thanchi branch manager Hlaswithwai Marma. On the other hand the robbers took Tk15 lakh from the Sonali Bank's Thanchi branch,  according to Deputy General Manager Md Osman Ghani of the bank.  However, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and Police are carrying out operations to capture the culprits. For security measures, transactions at six branches of Sonali Bank in Bandarban have been halted until the situation is under control.

The financial condition of four commercial banks has become fragile. As a result, the banks had fallen into red zones. Besides, four private banks and one foreign bank are on the list. The four state-owned banks are Basic Bank, Janata Bank, Agrani Bank and Rupali Bank. Besides, there are four private banks in this zone. These are Padma Bank, Bangladesh Commerce Bank, National Bank and AB Bank. Besides, the foreign National Bank of Pakistan is in the red zone. Bangladesh Bank (BB) gave this information with a biennial report titled  "Banks Health Index and HEAT Map" prepared by the Financial Stability Department of the BB.   

The Election Commission (EC) has issued an order to keep scheduled banks open on next Friday and Saturday (Jan 5-6), two days ahead of the 12th national election. On Wednesday (Jan 3), the governor of Bangladesh Bank received a letter from Atiar Rahman, deputy secretary of the EC Secretariat.   The branches in Dhaka, Chittagong, and other metropolitan cities, districts, and upazilas should remain open for two days with limited manpower so that the EC Secretariat, returning officers, and related parties can withdraw money. The EC, however, said the bank officials who have been given duty as polling officers should be kept out of this.  The national election is scheduled for January 7 for which a general holiday has been declared nationwide on the polling day.

Moody’s Investors Service has downgraded the long-term deposit ratings of five Pakistani banks to Caa3 from Caa1, suggesting that the ongoing economic crisis in the country is likely to have an adverse trickle-down effect on banks. With inflation readings at a historical high of 31.5% in January, coupled with the central bank’s benchmark policy rate at record high of 20%, has weakened the capacity of borrowers to repay loans taken from banks. Accordingly, financial institutions may see a large proportion of borrowers defaulting on repayment, which will result in an increase in non-performing loans (NPLs) and bad loans, likely to hit bank earnings, and deteriorate the quality of their assets. Presently, the country’s cash-strapped government stands to be the single largest borrower, having taken 85% of total deposits in loans. Other borrowers include businesses and households (mainly car financing and housing finance). The government, however, has never defaulted on its repayments as it has continued to borrow more from banks to pay off its previous loans. The five banks to be downgraded on deposit rating include Allied Bank Limited (ABL), Habib Bank Ltd (HBL), MCB Bank Limited (MCB), National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and United Bank Ltd (UBL), according to the global rating agency. Rating action Along with downgrading their long-term deposit ratings, Moody’s Investors Service has also downgraded the five banks’ long-term foreign currency Counterparty Risk Ratings (CRRs) to Caa3 from Caa1. As part of the same rating action, Moody’s lowered the banks’ Baseline Credit Assessments (BCAs) to Caa3 from Caa1, and as a result, also downgraded their local currency long-term CRRs to Caa2 from B3 and their long-term Counterparty Risk Assessments to Caa2(cr) from B3(cr). Moody’s said that the downgrading of banks follows its decision to downgrade the government of Pakistan’s credit rating to Caa3 from Caa1 – all of which suggest that default is imminent. The agency has, however, changed the outlook to stable from negative earlier this week. The downgrading of the banks reflects the weakening operational environment in the country, as captured by Moody’s lowering of its Macro Profile for Pakistan to “Very Weak” from “Very Weak+”; and the high interlinkages between the sovereign’s weakened creditworthiness and the banks’ balance sheets, given the banks’ significant holdings of sovereign debt securities. The agency said that the banks’ high sovereign exposure, mainly in the form of government debt securities – that range between 36%-61% of their total assets – also links their credit profile to that of the government. “The deterioration in Pakistan’s operating environment reflects both the rising government liquidity and external vulnerability risks, with foreign exchange reserves declining to critically low levels, as well as the high costs of living with headline inflation likely to rise further as energy prices increase in tandem with the removal of energy subsidies,” it added. According to Moody’s, a combination of these factors, together with the high-interest rates, will dampen consumer confidence and compromise borrowers’ repayment capacity. In turn, these factors will add pressure to banks’ earnings, asset quality, and capital metrics, and also potentially jeopardise their financial stability. Banks shine Banks have lent some 85% of total industry deposits to the government, as the country’s leadership stays embroiled in a vicious cycle of borrowing more to repay old loans. JS Global Research has reported that banks’ financing to the government surged 12.5 percentage points over the past one-year to 85% of total deposits (equivalent to Rs19.2 trillion) in January 2023. Topline Securities said Pakistan’s top five private sector banks’ profit grew 18% (Rs26 billion) to reach Rs166 billion in 2022. However, their tax almost doubled to Rs194 billion in the year. SBP injects Rs2.25 trillion The central bank has injected Rs2.25 trillion into commercial banks for up to 77 days through open market operations (OMO) to make sure ample liquidity remains available in the system. It injected the funds at a rate of return of 20.10% compared to 17.14% in the previous week’s OMO after the central bank increased its key policy rate to 20%.

After two long years, in the first phase of Ijtema, Friday prayers were performed on the banks of river Turag, Tongi with the participation of worshippers.  On Friday, January 13, Jumaah prayer started at 1:45 PM and ended at 1:52 PM. Before this, Azaan of Jummah prayer started at 12:15 PM, Jummah Khutbah started at 1:40 PM. Maulana Zobair, Khatib of Kakrail Mosque and Shura member of Tabligh, was the Imam of this Jamaat. On this day, pilgrims congregated to the Ijtema Maidan from early morning to participate in this congregation.  Earlier, the first phase of Ijtema began with the speech of Maulana Ziaul Haq in Urdu. This speech was translated into several languages including Bengali.  Muslims from different parts of the country including Gazipur and surrounding areas of Dhaka perform the Friday prayers. Apart from Bangladesh, Muslims from different countries also performed the prayers.  People take positions on various roads, sidewalks and empty spaces around the Ijtema Maidan to perform Friday prayers. Apart from this, many also perform the prayers by unfolding mats, polythene, and newspapers on the roofs of houses, boats and cars. The first phase of this year's Bishwa Ijtema will end on Sunday, January 15 with the last prayer.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to hold meeting with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and Bank of China for use of RMB/ PKR for bilateral trade between the two countries, official sources told Business Recorder. Prime Minister issued these directions to SBP during a meeting with Chinese businessmen on May 30, 2022. He further directed all relevant Ministries/ Divisions/ Organizations to ensure that timelines given by Planning Division and agreed by Chinese companies are adhered to. In case a Ministry is unable to meet the timelines for justifiable reason, this should be communicated to the Chinese Companies, Planning Division and the Prime Minister Office before expiry of timelines. According to sources, Finance Division has been directed to take immediate measures to address the liquidity issues of CPEC IPPs. Prime Minister directed Secretary Power Rashid Langrial to hold meeting with power companies based on imported coal to address their specific issues and to also work out mechanism/ modalities for their conversion from imported to local coal. Security of personnel of Chinese companies operating in Gwadar shall be further strengthened, he asked. During the meeting, it was decided that investments in solar and wind power projects, and desalination plant at Karachi shall be encouraged to save precious foreign exchange being spent on imported fuels, the sources maintained. In another meeting under the chairmanship of Prime Minister, it was decided that in view of the low efficiency of non-cogeneration Captive Power Plants (CPPs), a Committee headed by Minister for Finance shall hold deliberations with the businesses/ corporates generating electricity through non-cogeneration CPPs and work out options for diverting gas to the national security system. Power Division, sources said, has been directed to come up with sectoral plan to improve the financial health of power sector within two weeks. It was also decided that levy on incandescent bulbs shall be imposed/ enhanced to discourage their use. This may be accompanied by incentives to encourage use of LED bulbs, if needed. Petroleum Division has been directed to look into the matter of injecting additional gas from Mami-Khel gas field into the system. It was noted that the bio-monthly price determination of POL products does not envisage non-applicability of 10 per cent duty on Motor Spirit imported from China. Ministry of Finance and Petroleum Division shall immediately look into this issue so that any unfair advantage to OMCs is stopped forthwith and recovery initiated in case of past undue benefits. The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet, in its meeting held on June 3, 2022 imposed 10 per cent Regulatory Duty (RD) on MS import from China. The decision will be ratified by the federal cabinet in its forthcoming meeting. Prime Minister has also directed that privatisation of loss making SOEs be expedited as presently this process is very slow. Source: Business Recorder  

For the first time after 32 years since they left the Kashmir Valley, as assertion of their roots, Kashmiri Pandits celebrated the 'Navreh' (New Year) festival on Friday along the banks of the Dal Lake in Srinagar city. According to the Kashmiri Pandit calendar, Navreh is the first day of the new year. Before their exodus, local Pandits used to celebrate the beginning of the new year at Mata Sharika Devi temple situated on a hillock called the 'Hari Parbat' in the middle of old city of Srinagar. Friday's Navreh festival was organised by a Jammu-based theatre and cultural group called 'Vometh', which in Kashmiri means 'hope'. Titled 'Kashmir Navreh Milan 2022', a cultural programme and an exhibition depicting Kashmiri Pandits in their traditional attire, was held on Friday which was attended by many local Muslims and tourists. The tourists were amazed to learn about the culture, lifestyle and the heritage of the local Pandits. Rohit Bhat, one of the organisers of the festival, said, 'We want to recreate the ambience of Navreh so that everybody sees and understands the rich tradition and culture of the Kashmiri Pandits. 'We have included some unique presentations of Kashmiri culture and tradition in general in the programme. We are happy to see the participation and encouragement that we have received.' A painting competition attended by many local school children was organised in collaboration with the Private Schools' Association during the festival. Various stalls were arranged in order to display the artefacts of Kashmiri Pandits, including typical household items, paintings and many items, showcasing their culture. Stalls of Kashmiri Pandit food items, books, bakery and the famous Kashmiri brew called 'Kehwa' was served during the festival. P.K. Pole, Kashmir Divisional Commissioner, G.N. Itoo, Director Tourism, GoC of 31 Sub Area, Major General S.P.S. Vishwas Rao, B.B. Bhat, President Zestha Devi Prabhandak Committee, and G.N. Var, President of Jammu & Kashmir Private Schools' Association were among the guests who attended Friday's festival. Source: IANS

Indian Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, Tuesday handed over sanction letters amounting to Rs 306 crore to 145 beneficiaries of different banks and credit linked schemes like Pradhan Mantri Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), and MUDRA Scheme. She also announced new initiatives for J&K, including the launch of Tejaswini and Hausla schemes, Shikhar and Shikara schemes of Punjab National Bank (PNB), and SIDBI’s Rs 200 cr Cluster Development Fund. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha Tuesday attended the Credit Outreach programme and other events organised by Banker’s Committee of J&K. Under Punjab National Bank's (PNB's) special scheme 'Shikara', credit up to Rs 15 lakh will be provided for purchase/repair of Shikaras and houseboats. The Shikhara scheme focuses on meeting credit requirements up to Rs two crore for the Hotel, Tour & Tourism industry. JKTPO’s Hausla Scheme will empower existing women entrepreneurs to be role models in their respective sectors by providing skill development, as well as credit support, marketing support & mentorship. Under Tejaswini Scheme, financial assistance up to Rs five lakh to be given to young women for setting up self employment ventures. "I will ensure that more bank activities take place in J&K and more Public Sector Banks come here in all the districts so that every person has access to banking facilities," said Finance Minister. "Projects that have been waiting a long time are getting rapidly implemented, sections of society that have never had any assistance from the government are getting it and genuine businesses are also being provided credit," she said. The Lt Governor highlighted the vital role of credit outreach programmes and smart lending in enabling the government policies to reach everyone. NABARD in FY 2020-21 is increasing its commitment under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) from Rs 787 crore to Rs 1,500 crore for creation of rural infrastructure in J&K. Source: India Blooms

Lockdown for the second consecutive day is going on. All banks to remain open from today (April 15). Banking transaction will continue from 10 am to 1 pm. And to complete other activities banks will be open till 2:30 pm. The decision was delivered by Bangladesh Bank after holding emergency meeting on Tuesday. So in the lockdown period banks will remain open in a limited scale except the government holidays. The Bangladesh Bank direction said, branches of the banks will remain open with one day interval after one day. Upazila level branches will run in this way. Sadar branch in the districts will remain open. The foreign trading branches will remain open in a regular basis. Mentionable, to prevent coronavirus transmission the government has imposed strict restrictions for eight days starting from April 14. At that time it was decided that financial institutions will remain closed. On April 12 in a notification Bangladesh Bank also ordered to close the banks for one week. It also informed that the banks based on the ports of the country will remain open in the lockdown period. Later in another order the Bangladesh Bank announced that banks will remain open. AH

All banks of the country will remain closed in the complete lockdown starting from April 14 to April 21 to prevent further transmission of coronavirus. In this period all the branches of banks along with financial service providing sub-branches, booth banking, agent banking services will remain stop. But ATM, internet banking and other online services will remain operational. Bangladesh Bank informed about the decisions today. But in this period branches of the banks situated at sea, land and air port areas can be made open to perform export-import activities. As well as branches which make transaction in foreign exchange for the exporters can be made open for particular day. But Bangladesh Bank will not give direction for keeping branches open. In this regard Sirajul Islam, spokesperson for Bangladesh Bank said, all branches will remain closed. Branches can be kept open according to the demand for export and import activities. In this regard health guidelines have to be maintained strictly. AH