A five-day 'orientation programme' for newly-recruited 240 junior officers (cash) in Pubali Bank organised by Pubali bank human resources division ends today.
Earlier, managing director of the bank Helal Ahmed Chowdhury was present as chief guest at the inaugural ceremony. Deputy managing directors Khurshid-Ul-Alam, Mahbub Mustafizur Rahman and Safiul Alam Khan Chowdhury were present as special guests, said a news release.
Source : New Age
Md Jamirul Islam and Md Imam Shaheen have recently been promoted to the post of managing director and additional managing director of Phoenix Insurance Co Ltd respectively.
Prior to the assignment Islam was the managing director (current charge), said a news release.
Islam joined Phoenix Insurance Co in 1987 as a probationary officer and obtaining MA degree under Dhaka University in 1988. In 1990 he took over the charge of English Road branch of the company. In 2004 Islam was given the charge of local office of the company. He was promoted to the rank of deputy managing director in 2006 and additional managing director in 2010.
Shaheen was deputy managing director of the company prior to the promotion.
Before joining Phoenix, Shaheen was working as a senior executive vice president and head of re-insurance, claims, HRD and training department longer than five years in Asia Insurance Ltd.
After obtaining his Master's degree with honours in management from Chittagong University in 1989, Shaheen started his career as an officer with Green Delta Insurance Company Ltd and held responsible position about 15 years in different capacities.
Imam Shaheen received Tyser and Co London Award in recognition of outstanding result in the BIA Diploma Examination.
Source : New Age
Chittagong Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Murshed Murad Ibrahim on Wednesday said a closer bilateral trade ties between Bangladesh and Thailand was needed to boost business between the two countries.
He was speaking at a meeting with a delegation of the Thai-Bangladesh Business Council at the Agrabad Hotel in the port city.
'Bangladesh has huge potential in steel, paper, oil, textile, RMG, agro-based businesses,' Murshed said. He urged the Thai entrepreneurs to invest in the sectors in Bangladesh.
'We on behalf of the CCCI are ready to provide any cooperation to enhance the trade relationships with Thailand,' he added.
CCCI president chaired the meeting which was addressed, among others, by Mingpant Chayavichitslip, president of Thai-Bangladesh Business Council, and Songsak Limba Nyen, leader of Thiland delegation.
Mingpant Chaya-
vichitslip said, 'We are mulling to invest in Bangladesh, particularly in Chittagong.'
The CCCI presented a power point on the port city at the meeting.
Source : New Age
The trading in MJL Bangladesh shares begins on Dhaka Stock Exchange on Sunday, ending six months of uncertainties, as the company on Wednesday completed all the procedures for getting listed with the bourse.
DSE officials said the company was allowed to be listed with the bourse after it had completed all the procedures to refund its primary shareholders Tk 37.40 for each share.
The company, which took Tk 152.40 for every share from its shareholders in January, was forced to cut the price to Tk 115 on June 1 after the DSE had declined to list it with such 'over-priced' scrip.
The company's primary shareholders paid Tk 15,240 for a lot of 100 shares.
MJL Bangladesh floated the initial public offering on January 2 under the currently suspended book-building method.
Source : New Age
A team of students from the University of Dhaka won the regional diamond award at the HSBC Young Entrepreneur Awards 2011 finale held in Hong Kong on Monday.
The team took the diamond award as well as a prize money of HKD40,000 for its 'CocoCrete' project, which aims to supply high-strength, ready-mixed concrete using coir fibres from discarded coconut husks as reinforcement to make buildings more resistant to earthquakes, said a news release. The team consisted of Upoma Dutta, Shehreen Kamal and Nusrat Sharmin Moutusi — all students of IBA, University of Dhaka.
An innovative business plan to produce eco-friendly food packaging won three students from the Philippines the regional platinum award while the jade award went to the team from Thailand for its 'Heart & Sole's Convertible Heels' project.
Source : New Age
Poor farmers in the developing world will now be able to use Wall Street-style financial wizardry to protect against food price volatility, under a new programme announced by the World Bank on Tuesday.
The Washington-based development lender said it was launching a new risk management product to provide an initial $4 billion in protection from volatile food prices to farmers and consumers in developing countries.
'With this new tool, we can help farmers, food producers, and consumers protect themselves against price swings, strengthen their credit position, and increase their access to finance,' World Bank chief Robert Zoellick said.
'This tool shows what sensible financial engineering can do: make lives better for the poor,' Zoellick said in a statement.
The new financial product — which will help buyers hedge against price spikes in wheat, sugar, cocoa, milk, cattle, corn, soybeans, and rice — was developed jointly by the World Bank and Wall Street bank JPMorgan Chase.
On Wednesday and Thursday, agriculture ministers from the G20 grouping of rich and developing countries will meet in Paris to discuss measures to constrain volatility in food prices.
Source : New Age
City Bank Limited on Wednesday postponed its 28th annual general meeting scheduled to be held at 12:00 noon at the city's Bangabandhu International Conference Centre as some shareholders began to run amok and vandalised the furniture at the venue protesting at an alleged 'lack of entry coupons'.
Witnesses said the furore began in the morning as hundreds of shareholders started to jostle for entry coupons at 10 counters set up at the entrances to the meeting venue.
The event organisers struggled hard to provide around 15,000 shareholders with entry coupons from only 10 counters.
The Sher-e-Bangla Nagar police confirmed the incident and said no case was filed in this connection and no one was held.
The City Bank in a post on the Dhaka Stock Exchange website said, 'Due to the unruly behaviour and vandalism [of] some unidentified miscreants, the 28th AGM of the Bank scheduled to be held today (22.06.11) at 12:00 noon could not be held as the situation went beyond control despite the support [of] law-enforcing agencies.'
The board of the bank in an emergency meeting decided to postpone the AGM and to notify the new date, time, and venue of the AGM to all concerned in due course, the post added.
Source : New Age
Dhaka stocks on Wednesday continued to gain for the third consecutive day following a fresh move of the parliamentary standing committee on finance ministry to recommend including a provision allowing investment of undisclosed money in the capital market in the next fiscal year's budget.
The benchmark general index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, or DGEN, advanced on the day by 63.11 points, or 1.09 per cent, to close at 5,808.20. The index had gained around 58 points in the previous two trading days.
Operators said the market continued to gain after the chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on finance ministry, AHM Mostafa Kamal, had announced on Tuesday that the committee would request finance minister AMA Muhith to allow legalisation of undisclosed money meant for investment in the equities market while finalising the proposed budget.
Although the Jatiya Sangsad body had already recommended allowing investment of undisclosed money in the capital market before the proposed budget was tabled in the parliament, Muhith did not include the provision in the proposed budget for fiscal 2011-12.
The market had witnessed a two-week gaining streak before the budget announcement as many of the investors hoped that the government would allow investment of undisclosed money in the capital market, considering its ongoing liquidity crisis.
The JS body will hold a meeting today with Muhith to request him to include the provision in the budget before its passage by June 30.
The trading on the DSE has been topsy-turvy since the announcement of the proposed national budget on June 9.
Operators said the market had been upbeat for two days before Wednesday as some of the investors went for buying on the anticipation that the market would find a liquidity boost following a central bank directive regarding commercial banks' lending.
Bangladesh Bank on Monday decided to allow the commercial banks to calculate the credit-deposit ratio considering other banks' deposits as a source of fund instead of excluding those deposits from the denominator.
Of the 260 issues traded on Wednesday, 205 advanced, 43 declined, and 12 remained unchanged.
The turnover, however, decreased to Tk 444.68 crore from Tk 456.86 crore on Tuesday.
Source : New Age
The parliamentary committee on the finance ministry called for extension of tax holiday till 2015, revision of the ceiling for income tax, effective management of the exchange rate, and increase of tax rebate for companies discharging corporate social responsibilities.
The committee, in its 37th meeting, reviewed the proposed budget and observed that it required further discussion and debate before the introduction of wealth tax, and asked the ministry to revise it.
The committee's chairman, AHM Mustafa Kamal, at a press briefing after the meeting said that their recommendations were ignored in the proposed budget for next fiscal year.
Kamal claimed the country's economy had never been so healthy in the last 40 years.
He said that the Bangladesh Bank was suffering from shortage of foreign exchange as pressure mounts for increased infrastructural works, especially setting up of power plants. He said that the committee had proposed staggered payment of foreign exchange to reduce the pressure.
He also called for introduction of efficient management to deal with the exchange rate. He observed that the gradual devaluation of the taka against the dollar has had a negative impact on the price situation.
Kamal said there is tax holiday till 2013 and the committee had proposed its extension to 2015, and had also called for enlargement of the area covered by the tax holiday to include promising businesses like tourism and other industries.
'As in the developed world, many private sector companies have come up with programmes that will discharge their corporate social responsibilities. But they have to pay tax on their CSR activities, which should not be done. The tax rebate for CSR activities should be increased,' he said.
Kamal said that at present 22 sectors have begun CSR activities, but more sectors should start doing so.
He also opposed the tax coverage of small farms. 'The fishing farms in homesteads should not be under the tax net. The large commercial farms can be taxed. If it becomes essential, a flat rate can be imposed,' he said.
Source : New Age