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Failure to communicate rationale behind consolidation in banking sector driving panic among customers, employees
Depositors are gathering at different banks to withdraw their hard earned money, as a kind of panic has spread in the entire banking sector centring the process of mergers taking place between strong and weak banks, or the private and public sectors.
The mergers are necessary to fill the central bank's objective of initiating a process of consolidation in Bangladesh's highly-fragmented banking industry, aimed at reducing the number of banks in the country, which for a number of years now has been far too high.
In a sense, the government is trying to rectify its past mistakes - in particular the overly laissez-faire approach to handing out banking licenses.
For example, just based on the five merger proposals so far received by the central bank, if all of them were to succeed, or at least be approved, the number of banks in Bangladesh would come down by 6 - almost 10% of the number of bank currently in operation.
But there has been no effort to explain this to the public in these terms. Rather they are seeing a string of random (to them) mergers being announced, where the decisions to merge often don't make sense on the surface, in a landscape where such mergers are unprecedented.
The sense of knowing something is happening, but not knowing what it is, has driven the sense of panic among the public, who feel some decisions of Bangladesh Bank are being forcefully imposed on the sector, while Shapla Chattor's decision to impose a ban on beat reporters entering the central bank, alongside whatever purpose it served the decisionmakers, has also raised people's doubts about the authorities' intentions to remain transparent.
BASIC Bank to merge with City Bank in strategic consolidation move
That in turn could only exacerbate the sense of panic, which hsn gotten to the point of people withdrawing their deposits from certain banks, said sources at some respected banks.
They said most of the depositors are suffering from the dilemma of whether or not to keep money in the bank. Some are withdrawing money from the bank due to fear.
This list also includes some institutional depositors. A Shariah-based private bank has received 12 deposit refund applications in the last week. Each is a capital FDR. Already, Basic Bank has lost more than Tk2000 crore of deposits recently at the news of merging this bank with private sector City bank.
About Tk100 crores have been withdrawn from BDBL. The situation is almost the same for other banks in the list of mergers.
When asked to know, the Acting Managing Director (MD) of BASIC Bank, Abu Md. Mofazzal told UNB, "Since 2015, BASIC Bank is also a state-owned bank like Sonali and Janata."
Top execs of merging bank cannot hold posts at acquiring entity: Bangladesh Bank
He explained that various government institutions and organizations have deposited money in BASIC Bank. With the news of merger with private sector players, these institutes have started withdrawing the money.
“Various institutions have already withdrawn more than Tk2000 crore of deposits. Because they think that BASIC Bank is going to become a private bank,” BASIC acting MD pointed out.
He said for this reason, the board of directors decided BASIC Bank would send a letter to the government to merge with a government bank.
A senior official of National Bank told UNB on condition of anonymity that it is becoming difficult to retain deposits, ever since the old board was dissolved and a new board was formed.
The new board should be given at least six months’ time. A decision to merge now will not be good for the bank, the official said.
The top management of UCBL is saying the same thing, which bank is scheduled to merge the National Bank.
A senior official of the bank said, like other banks, there is panic in UCB. Because, the depositors are seeking money back.
BDBL to merge with Sonali Bank while BKB with RKUB
Meanwhile, Basic Bank does not want to merge with the private sector City Bank. They want to merge with a government bank. The board of directors of the bank has given an official letter to the government stating this.
However, the BB spokesperson and other officials working on bank mergers have not agreed to comment in this regard.
The panic among employees of these banks (that are in line for merger) is driven by a sense of uncertainty over their futures. Many apprehend being made redundant once the merger process is completed. It means many of the mid-to-lower ranked employees are already fishing for new opportunities, although these are relatively scarce to come by. Nevertheless their search is on.
Amid the sweltering heat, first working day starts with 966 MW of load shedding
Amid the summer's sweltering heat, the week's first working day started with 966 MW of load shedding.
Very severe heat wave has gripped parts of Bangladesh, with maximum temperatures ranging from 40 degrees Celsius to over 42 degrees Celsius in some areas.
National Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC) at the Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) data shows, a total of 966 MW of load shedding was recorded at 1 am on Sunday.
Officials said rural areas have been experiencing the power outages mostly as the government has been pursuing a policy to avert the power cut in urban areas, mainly the capital Dhaka and large cities.
Both the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) and PGCB forecast shows that the country's highest electricity demand will be 15,000 MW in the day peak hours while it will go up to 16,200 MW in the evening peak hours.
State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Nasrul Hamid recently said that the electricity demand may cross 17,000 MW this summer.
Highest evening peak hours' power generation was 15,358 MW on Saturday, as this was a weekly holiday, while the day's peak period generation was 13,325 MW.
The NLDC data also shows that the extent of load shedding was decreasing to 387 MW at 12 noon and again took a U-turn with increasing the power shortage.
The load shedding was recorded at 418 MW while the filing of this report at 3 pm.
Interestingly, in regard to the load shedding, a big difference was found in the official data of the BPDB and the PGCB.
The BPDB data shows that the country experienced highest 374 MW of load shedding on Saturday while the evening peak demand was recorded at 15,053 MW.
Of the total load shedding, Dhaka region experienced only 40 MW load shedding, Cumilla 84 MW, Mymensingh 200 MW and Rangpur only 50 MW while Sylhet, Barisal, Chattagram, Khulna and Rajshahi experienced no load shedding.
But the PGCB record shows that the entire country experienced 644 MW which is about double of the figure shown by the BPDB.
No official from BPDB was willing to comment on the matter when attention was drawn to it.
Meanwhile, state-owned Petrobangla official data shows that the gas production increased to 3006.7 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD) which is the highest in recent days.
Recently, recently the gas production witnessed a big fall in gas production and the highest supply was recorded at 2,300 MMCFD last week.
Petrobangla officials said both the LNG terminals are now operating in the full swing with supply over 1000 MMCFD while Chevron-operated Bibiyana gas field is also back to the production which also supplied over 1000 MMCFD against its capacity of 1200 MMCFD.
As a result, gas supply witnessed a good improvement across the country, said an official of the Petrobangla.
BASIS election: Sohel’s ‘Team Smart’ comprises bunch of young entrepreneurs
A panel titled “Team Smart” – comprising a diverse group of young entrepreneurs led by Mostafizur Rahman Sohel – has been formed to contest the election to the executive committee (2024-26) of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS), the national trade body for software and IT-enabled service industry.
The panel is now running its campaign in full swing with an aim to build a “Smart BASIS”, said a press release.
Under the leadership of Mostafizur Rahman Sohel, managing director of Advanced ERP BD Limited, this panel features a diverse array of young candidates.
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Competing for the director (general) positions are Nagad Ltd.’s Executive Director Niaz Morshed Elite, Content Matters Limited’s CEO ASM Rafiq Ullah, Babylon Resources Limited’s CEO Liakat Hossain, Inument Solutions Limited’s Co-founder and CEO Monjurul AL Mamun, Loosely Coupled Technologies’ (LCT Solution Centre) Chief Operating Officer Syeda Nawshad Jahan Promee, Analyzen Bangladesh Ltd.’s The Man of Steel (Chairman) Muhammad Risalat Siddique, and Bondstein Technologies Limited’s Managing Director and CEO Mir Shahrukh Islam.
Candidates for the associate director positions include Arman Ahmed Khan, CEO of Magnus Software Works, Lutfi Chowdhury, co-founder and CEO of Adfinix Limited, and Hasinul Quddus (Rusho), chief corporate affairs officer of Daraz Bangladesh.
Team Smart’s panel leader Mostafizur Rahman Sohel said, “We have formed a youth-centric panel. We need a smart team to build Smart Bangladesh and Smart BASIS. So, we have endeavored to come up with such a panel. If the entire Team Smart is elected with votes from BASIS members, we will transform BASIS into a more dynamic and ICT-dependent modern organisation.”
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Earlier, Mostafizur Rahman Sohel served thrice on the BASIS Executive Committee.
Gas supply to remain off in parts of Savar Monday
Gas supply to different areas in Savar will remain suspended for two hours from 2 pm to 4 pm on Monday for all categories of customers for emergency works in gas pipelines.
Gas supply to remain suspended for 12 hours in Narayanganj Sunday
According to Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Ltd, the areas where gas supply will remain off include Tongabari, Ashulia, Khejur Bagan, Gouripur, Khagan, Kumkumari, and Akran.
Gas supply to remain suspended for 2 hours Saturday in Narayanganj, adjoining areas
The consumers in the adjoining areas may experience low pressure in gas supply during the period, said Titas Gas regretting the temporary inconveniences of consumers.
Statistics Alumni of CU held Eid-reunion, AGM
Statistics Alumni of CU, an organization representing the former students of Statistics Department, Chittagong University (CU) has hosted an Eid-reunion programme at Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD).
They also held its annual general meeting at the same venue which was presided over by organization’s President Dr Obaidur Rab.
Over 400 alumni and their family members from various parts of the country joined the daylong function, said the organizers on Sunday.
DNCC cleaner dies in Dhaka road crash
A cleaner of Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) died after being hit by a CNG-run auto-rickshaw at Natun Bazar in Dhaka’s Gulshan area on Sunday.
The deceased was identified as Abdur Razzaque, 46, son of Foyez Uddin of Nazirpur upazila in Pirojpur district and a resident of Bhatara area in the capital.
Two die in separate road accidents in Ctg
The accident occurred around 6 am when the CNG-run auto-rickshaw hit him while crossing the road, leaving him injured, said Hasib Hossain, assistant sub-inspector of Gulshan Police Station.
Later, he was taken to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital where the doctors declared him dead around 10 am.
3 die in separate road accidents in Ctg
The body kept at a hospital morgue.
‘Very severe’ heat wave hits parts of Bangladesh
Very severe heat wave has gripped parts of Bangladesh, with maximum temperatures ranging from 40 degrees Celsius to over 42 degrees Celsius in some areas.
“Very severe heat wave is sweeping Pabna, Jashore and Chuadanga districts and severe heat wave is sweeping Dhaka and parts of Khulna divisions and Rajshahi district,” said a bulletin of Bangladesh Meteorological Department on Sunday.
The country’s highest temperature was recorded at 42.2 degrees Celsius in Chuadanga on Sunday while Dhaka experienced highest 38.2 degrees Celsius temperature(the temperature recorded till 3 pm), meteorologist Shahinul Islam told UNB.
Mild heat wave sweeps Dhaka, 3 other divisions: BMD
Two people died from heat stroke in Chuadanga and Pabna districts on Saturday amid the extreme heat weather due to the prevailing heat wave for the past few days.
The season’s highest temperature in the capital Dhaka was recorded at 40.4 degrees Celsius on Saturday and the country’s highest temperature was recorded in Jashore at 42.6 degrees Celsius, which was also the season's high for the country.
The BMD issued a warning that the heat wave condition will remain unchanged for the five days commencing 9 am on Saturday (20 April).
Over 42 degrees Celsius temperature is considered as very severe heat wave while between 40-41.9 degrees Celsisus is considered as severe and 38 to 39.9 degrees Celsius is considered as moderate heat wave while 36 to 37.9 degrees Celsius is considered as mild heat wave in the country, according to the BMD.
Heatwave to continue in Dhaka, 3 other divisions for 72 hours: BMD
The heat wave condition forced the authorities concerned to close all schools, madrasas and colleges till April 27.
Dhaka University authorities also announced to hold classes online due to the scorching heat. The regular bulletin of Met office on Sunday predicted rain or thunder showers accompanied by temporary gusty or squally wind at one or two places over Mymensingh, Sylhet and Chattogram divisions with hails at isolated places.
Weather may remain mainly dry with temporary partly cloudy sky elsewhere over the country, it said.
Mild to moderate heat wave is sweeping Barishal division and parts of Rajshahi division and Mymensingh, Moulvibazar, Feni, Cox’s Bazar, Chandpur and Rangamati districts and it may continue, the bulletin added.
Day temperature may rise by (1-2)°C over Rangpur division and it may remain nearly unchanged elsewhere over the country.
Night temperature may remain nearly unchanged over the country.
Due to increase of moisture incursion, the discomfort may persists.
Man dies after being hit by train in Dhaka’s Malibagh
A 58-year-old man died after being hit by a speedy train at Malibagh level crossing in the capital on Sunday.
The deceased was identified as Abdul Wadud, a security guard of a developer company and a resident of East Hazipara area.
Quoting Wadud's son Anwar Hossain, Masud Mia, assistant sub-inspector of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital police camp, said Wadud was hit by the speedy train and injured while crossing the track of Malibagh level crossing around 8:30 am.
2 die as train hits truck while crossing rail track in Feni
Later, he was taken to the local hospital where the doctors declared him dead.
22-year-old dies as train hits him in Sirajganj
Right activists denounce vilification of ex-BUET students by FB page linked to war criminal Mir Quasem's family
A Facebook page endorsed by a British advocate who actively advocated for impunity of Bangladesh’s notorious war criminal from Jamaat-e-Islami found actively orchestrating false account of torture targeting former BUET students with questionable motive and one sided account.
Goes by the name Socchar, the page, operated from US, was inaugurated by Michael Polak hired by family of Mir Quasem Ali who earlier struck a million dollar deal with top lobbyists firms in US to shore up global support exploiting human rights ground to ensure impunity for war criminals.
In 1971, Quasem was general secretary of Islami Chhatra Sangha, the then student wing of Jamaat, and for war crimes earned notoriety of running a death factory in Chittagong.
When the student body re-emerged as Islami Chhatra Shibir in 1977, he became its founding president.
What rights activists described as faulty account, the target of the page has been those former BUET students including Tonmoy Ahmed who was reportedly hacked brutally by student arm of the Jamaat back in 2013.
Heatwave: National University-affiliated colleges to remain shut until further notice
A U.S. based defence think tank IHS Jane's Global Terrorism & Insurgency Attack Index 2013 put Shibir as the third most active non-state armed group in the world.
Two posts from the page appeared recently that coincided with a series of email campaign launched by globally categorised as extremist outfit Hizbut Taharir targeting students to join crusade against westerners and abandon all western values. Jamaat’s student outfit Shibir and the social media mouthpiece Basherkella also found echoing the tones of Hizbut over BUET.
Pointing out errors on the posts, Tonmoy, who now acts as coordinator in Awami League web team, put up a post on his facebook.
“How can a student be dragged down from exam hall and that too in presence of teachers and students without any media reports. Moreover found the flimsy allegations are levelled based on accounts of a former shibir leader who was involved in plotting the assassination attempt against me," wondered Tonmoy.
Recalling a similar pattern of baseless vilification months prior to attack on Dwip and him, he added “Before attacks, pages affiliated with Shibir including Basherkella ran a barrage of lies slapped on us including branding us “enemies of Islam.”
According to media reports, Tonmoy during his stint on BUET exposed a network of Shibir operating secretly to exploit general students.
Throughout 2013, during the war crimes trial, Jamaat and its affiliated bodies Shibir alongside other likeminded outfits orchestrated a deadly spell of violence including firebombing of buses, targeted killing and communal attacks to stop the trial process.
Back then, in two separate attacks two BUET students who were leaders of Bangladesh Student League BUET unit and went vocal over war crimes trial were stabbed brutally with one killed and another survived reportedly in machete attacks by Shibir activists as both of them were involved in creating awareness against these fundamentalist groups.
Ranjon Karmaker, a rights activist who has worked with Amnesty International, found the sudden and selective spread of such claim “a purposeful work with intent of spreading disinformation, solely focused with the agenda to serve the purpose of Jamaat’s student outfit.
Taking a dig at recommendation placed by the page to take legal action, he added “while there is no veracity of the claim, and two more gruesome attack on buet students is absent but the vigor for legal action is deplorable and reflects a complete lack of objectivity.”
Expressing alarm over the appearance of Polak at the inauguration of the page, Ranjan added “Unless involvement of Jamaat, Pollack would not have attended the inaugural. Pollak advocated for impunity of war criminals.
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Back then, a global campaign was launched by the group of advocates including Pollak to save those infamous culprits who orchestrated one of the worst genocides in recent history.
The nexus of Jamaat behind running the page to vilify former BUET students who were anti war crimes campaigners is evident”
In association with another Jamaat hired lawyear Toby Cadman, Polak was found issuing joint statements undermining war crimes and went on an overdrive to present their clients—dreaded war criminals—as victims.
In reality the trial has been described as watershed moment by hundreds of thousands of people including war heroes and families of martyred heroes.
2 fishermen shot by ‘Myanmar border guards’ while fishing in Naf River
Two Bangladeshi fishermen were shot and wounded allegedly by members of Myanmar’s Border Guard Police (BGP) while they were fishing in the Naf River along Naikhongdia border in Teknaf upazila.
The injured were identified Mohammad Ismail and Mohammad Faruk, both hailing from Shah Porir Island’s Majherpar in Teknaf upazila of Cox’s Bazar.
Of them, the condition of Faruk was stated to be critical and he was shifted to Cox’s Bazar Sadar Hospital from Teknaf Upazila Health Complex.
The injured fishermen and their relatives said when a group of 10 fishermen went to the river for fishing BGP members opened fire on them, leaving the two men injured.
Teknaf Upazila Health and Family Welfare Officer Dr Pranay Rudra said Faruk was hit by three bullets and he was sent to Cox's Bazar District Sadar Hospital for better treatment.
Mohammad Osman Goni, officer-in-charge of Teknaf Police Station, said they heard that two fishermen were injured in firing and they were trying to know the details.