Personal loans are a great option for those looking to make a big financial decision in their life. It could be buying a new car, planning a wedding, going on a vacation abroad, paying for higher studies, or getting a new home. Personal loans offer secured debt consolidation as they cover tons of financial needs. While taking out a personal loan is pretty straightforward, you should consider some key aspects before going for one.  Things to Consider Before Taking Out a Personal Loan from a Bangladeshi Bank  Purpose of the Loan  Personal loans are mostly taken as a form of investment source. It can be debt consolidation or a major investment for future benefit. Regardless, a loan means incurring a liability until it is paid off. It is important to properly assess whether taking the loan is a feasible decision or not.  It is also important to consider alternative funding sources like personal savings, emergency funds, or borrowing from family.  Interest Rate One of the prime things to consider is the interest rate accrued to the loan capital. Currently, Bangladesh Bank has a regulation in place that outlines the upper limit that can be charged by the banks. The Bangladesh Bank interest rate regulation can be checked from the lending rate of scheduled banks (https://www.bb.org.bd/en/index.php/financialactivity/interestlending). Read more: Top 10 Strongest Currencies in the World as of May 2024 Additionally, a borrower can use websites like aamartaka.com to compare the rates among banks, check eligibility criteria, and even apply through their designated channels. Understand the Eligibility Criteria  The first thing to consider while applying for a personal loan is to understand the eligibility criteria. Personal loans can come in both secured and unsecured options. Granted that the unsecured options will incur a higher interest rate.  However, most banks require a set of eligibility criteria for one to apply for a loan. For example, the valuation of collateral against the loan or the liquidity level of the applicant. Other aspects like personal history verification, job verification, income, and salary credit account can also be the eligibility criteria depending on the lender. Another key aspect is the history of bankruptcy or loan default which might disqualify a person from applying for a personal loan.  Have a Good Credit Rating  A credit history is one of the key determinants of loan disbursement abroad. One can’t even apply for a credit card without a stable credit rating, let alone a personal loan. Credit rating determines the creditworthiness of an individual, that is how likely they are to repay a loan based on previous credit history.  Read more: How to Buy Bangladesh Government Treasury Bond: Everything You Need to Know There are several credit scoring systems globally like FICO score and VantageScore. However, in the case of Bangladesh, the banks and NBFIs do not follow a set credit score while approving loans. Alternative credit scoring like asset ownership, utility payments, device data, and rental payments are taken into consideration. It is mostly because a large portion of the demographic is unbanked or underbanked to make credit scoring the sole determinant for loan approval. 

The women employment in the banking sector increased by 1407 in July-December period of 2023, and the overall perrcentage of women employees at banks stood at 16.37 percent in Bangladesh. Meanwhile just 13.51% of board members in the banks are women.  Bangladesh Bank’s (BB’s) latest report on gender equality revealed this information. There are 33346 women employees in 61 banks in the country, which is 16.37 percent of the total employees of banks, according to the report. The BB report shows that among the scheduled banks in 2023, 43 private commercial banks have the highest number of women employees 22,248, which is 16.32 percent of the total employees. Foreign commercial banks have the highest proportion of female officers, 24.18 percent as compared to other banks. In the period July-December 2023, the participation of women as board members was only 13.51 percent. Among them, foreign commercial banks have the highest female board member participation rate at 17.54 percent. Read more: Bangladesh's women empowerment showcased in Myanmar On the other hand, there is no participation of women board members of specialized commercial banks in the discussed period. According to the reports submitted by banks during the period July-December 2023 shows that the participation rate of women employees is higher at the entry-level 17.04 percent and mid-level 15.79 percent than at the higher levels 9.36 percent. Analysis of the obtained data shows that the participation of women in the banking sector is high at the initial stage. At the same time, the participation rate of female employees under thirty years of age 20.99 percent is more than double that of female officers above 9.58 percent in scheduled banks. Bangladesh’s place has improved by 12 steps in the gender gap report of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2023, as women's employment increased in the country. The BB report shows that Bangladesh is holding the 59th position in 2023 improving from 71st in 2022 in the gender gap of WEF, among 146 countries in the world. Read more: PM Hasina keen to create more scopes for women in every sector: Nasrul Hamid Executive Director of CDP Dr. Fahmida Khatun said that women's employment is usually increasing with the developing socio-economic scenario of the country and decreasing the ratio of women's employment does not match that calculation. She focused on the need to study why the ratio of women employment has been decreasing in the banking sector. Bangladesh Bank’s spokesperson Mezbaul Haque told UNB that women's employment has increased in the banking sector following the central bank’s policy to reduce the gender gap in banks and financial institutions. The central bank prefers women both in employment and entrepreneurship development. Loan disbursement and interest incentives have been given to women encouraging them involved in financial inclusion. The BB is still working to ensure a sound environment in the workplace of banks. Facilities including maternity leave and daycare opportunities for women’s employees have increased, he said. Read more: Proven Passive Income Ideas for Women in 2024

An official of the Ministry of Finance on Thursday said that 24 banks have agreed to issue bonds worth Tk 5,665 crore to help the government pay money to the owners of private power plants. The government owes more than $2 billion or around Tk23000 crore to the private power plants as bills. Bangladesh should discuss issues related to trade benefits at WTO ministerial conf: speakers at a seminar The government is unable to pay the money because of the financial crisis. As a result, the power plants are not able to pay the money taken from banks as loan. Many of such loans provided to those power plants have been defaulted. To deal with the situation, bonds of Tk 12,000 crore will be issued against the loans taken by the power plants, an official said on condition of anonymity. Bangladesh is doing well in IMF terms: Finance Minister Already, 24 banks have agreed to issue bonds worth Tk 5,665 crore, the official said, confirming that an MoU agreement has been signed in this regard in the Ministry of Finance on February 6. A letter may be sent to the Bangladesh Bank from the Financial Institutions Division, Ministry of Finance for issuing bonds this week. Electricity demand may rise to about 17,500 MW in coming summer: Nasrul After that, the Bangladesh Bank will issue this bond in 3-4 working days, the official said.

A Dhaka court today (July 24, 2023) indicted 16 people, including BUET Professor Nikhil Ranjan Dhar, in a case filed over the question paper leak of bank recruitment examination in 2021. Dhaka Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Md Tofazzal Hossain passed the order to frame the charges against Nikhil Ranjan Dhar and 15 others. Before that, the magistrate dismissed the petitions submitted for discharging Nikhil and others from the charges in the case. Read: Bank recruitment question leak: BUET professor Nikhil show caused by authority The recruitment test for five state-owned banks was held on November 6, 2021. Sub-inspector Sukant Biswas of Tejgaon Zonal Team filed a case at Badda Police Station under the Public Examinations (Offences) Act following the question leak on November 10 the same year. On November 21 that year, BUET removed Prof Nikhil Ranjan Dhar from the post of head of Industrial and Production Engineering Department and also relieved him of all exam responsibilities. In December, 2021, BUET authorities asked Nikhil to explain his involvement in leaking the questions of recruitment exam for five Banks. Read: Appellate Division orders Dr Yunus to pay NBR Tk 12 crore tax on donations On November 16, 2022, Shamim Ahmed, a sub-inspector of the Detective Branch (DB) and the investigation officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet excluding Prof Nikhil as an accused. Earlier this year, a Dhaka court summoned the investigation officer to show cause why and how he relieved Prof Nikhil from the charges. Following that, investigation officer Shamim submitted a supplementary charge against Nikhil to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court of Dhaka.

The defaulted loans in the banking sector climbed by about Tk10, 954 crore to Tk1,31, 621 crore in the January-March quarter. According to Bangladesh Bank (BB) the defaulted loans increased by 9 percent from three months ago and 16 percent from a year earlier. Despite different initiative of the central bank, defaulted loans is on a rising trend, which is becoming challenging and a headache, the BB Governor said recently in a conference Association of Bankers Bangladesh (ABB).   In comparison, the default loan figure stood at Tk1,20,656 crore in December 2022. Also Read: Market-based interest rate, unified exchange rate from July: Bangladesh Bank The defaulted loan volume surged in post Covid-19 period while the businesses abstained from repaying loan installments citing poor business. During the pandemic the central bank announced a moratorium on regular repayment of loans that helped a large number of borrowers from becoming defaulters. After withdrawal of the moratorium facility, the defaulted loan volume increased by over Tk 1.20 lakh crore in December last year. Former governor of BB Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed told UNB that a group of businesses is becoming defaulters willfully and the central bank has to be strict with such people. Also Read: IMF-Bangladesh Bank meeting prioritizes unified exchange rate and competitive lending rate He said for lack of good governance, some organized groups have taken more money as loans than their ability, which is a reason behind surge in defaulted loans.

An intelligence team of Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) has arrested three more people including the mastermind, from Dhaka and Netrakona districts in connection with the robbery of Tk 11.25 crore of a bank from a private security agency’s vehicle in Turag area of Uttara in the capital. They also recovered Tk 58.7 lakh from thir possession. The arrestees are Mohammad Hridoy, 21, Mohammad Milon Mia, 29 and Akash, the mastermind of the robbery incident. Tipped off, a team of intelligence team of DMP conducted separate drives in Karail slum of Banani area in the capital and Durgapur upazila of Netrakona district and arrested them, said a press release issued by deputy commissioner of police (media and public relations) of DMP, Faruk Hossain. With this, 11 people have been arrested and Tk 7.1 crore recovered so far. Also Read: Tk 2.53 crore more recovered , 8 arrested over Uttara robbery During interrogation, it was known that, among the robbers, Akash and Sohel Rana made the plot of the robbery incident and a number of people divided into different groups committed the robbery, the release added. Sohel Rana, now fugitive, was a driver of Money Plant Link Limited, a private security agency, and he knew well about the  movement of the vehicle. The robber gang took the control of the vehicle on that day without any obstruction, it said. During interrogation, police came to know that the members of the gang were collected from Sunamganj, Sylhet, Netrakona, Gopalganj and Barishal. After the robbery, they took their share and managed to flee the scene, the release said. Akash and Sohel took a lion share of the money. Robbers looted cash money worth Tk 11 crore cash from a vehicle of Money Plant Ltd while it was going to refill money at the ATM of Dutch Bangla Bank in Savar, in Turag area of Uttara in the capital. Earlier, on Saturday, the intelligence teams recovered over Tk 2.53 core more and arrested eight people from Dhaka, its adjacent areas and Sunamganj. A private car, used in the robbery, has also been seized, it said.        

Asian shares mostly fell Monday, shaken by a Wall Street tumble that set off worries the biggest United States bank failure in nearly 15 years might have ripple effects around the world. But the falls were relatively subdued because of reassurances from U.S. officials that financial shocks would be mitigated. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 slipped 1.6% to 27,685.86 in morning trading. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.3% to 7,125.90. South Korea's Kospi shed 0.4% to 2,385.25. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.4% to 19,594.07. The Shanghai Composite rose 0.3% to 3,238.98, as Chinese shares tracked a gain in U.S. futures. Dow futures were up 1.1% at 32,516.00. S&P 500 futures rose 1.4% to 3,952.50. The recent developments in Chinese politics have also worked as a stabilizing factor. Major posts, including the governor of the Bank of China, as well as other political leaders, were announced, signaling a continuation of policy. Also Read: Startup-focused Silicon Valley Bank becomes largest bank to fail since 2008 financial crisis Before trading began in Asia, the U.S. Treasury Department, Federal Reserve and FDIC said Sunday that all Silicon Valley Bank clients will be protected and have access to their funds and announced steps designed to protect the bank’s customers and prevent more bank runs. Regulators closed Silicon Valley Bank on Friday amid a run on the bank, which was the second-largest U.S. bank failure, behind the 2008 failure of Washington Mutual. They also announced Sunday that New York-based Signature Bank was being seized after it became the third-largest bank failure in U.S. history. Following two bank failures, worries about financial stability and liquidity concerns were dominating the market landscape, said Stephen Innes, managing partner at SPI Asset Management in Hong Kong. He said traders made nervous by the weekend's news could create “a ready-aim-fire Monday open.” “With the market likely headed for a more turbulent period with US inflation on a collision course with Bank ‘theater of tragedy,’ now is probably not the best time for investor euphoria," Innes said. But the sense that U.S. authorities were taking some steps to limit “the contagion effect” had somewhat of a calming effect, although “markets remain skittish” in Asia, said Venkateswaran Lavanya at Mizuho Bank. Shares had tanked Friday on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 dropping 1.4% to cap its worst week since September. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 345 points, or 1.1%, while the Nasdaq composite sank 1.8%. The S&P 500 fell 56.73 points to 3,861.59. The Dow lost 345.22 to 31,909.64, and the Nasdaq dropped 199.47 to 11,138.89. Some of the sharpest drops on Wall Street last week came from the financial industry. First Republic Bank tumbled 14.8%, while Charles Schwab lost another 11.7% after dropping 12.8% Thursday. Larger banks, which have been stress-tested by regulators following the 2008 financial crisis, held up better. JPMorgan Chase rose 2.5%. In Tokyo trading, banking issues were sold, with MUFG Bank falling nearly 4%, echoing such falls on Wall Street. Shares in Mitsui Sumitomo Financial Group dipped 4.7% in morning trading. Worries were growing recently that interest rates are set to go higher than expected after the Fed Reserve said it could reaccelerate the size of its rate hikes. The Fed is focusing on wage growth in particular in its fight against inflation. It worries too-high gains could cause a vicious cycle that worsens inflation. Traders now largely expect the Fed to stick with a modest 0.25 point hike. Last month, the Fed slowed to that pace after earlier hiking by 0.50 and 0.75 points. The Fed has already raised rates at the fastest pace in decades and made other moves to reverse its tremendous support for the economy during the pandemic. In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude lost 26 cents to $76.42 a barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 35 cents to $82.43 a barrel. In currency trading, the U.S. dollar fell to 134.40 Japanese yen from 134.96 yen. The euro cost $1.0694, up from $1.0643.

Regulators rushed Friday to seize the assets of one of Silicon Valley's top banks, marking the largest failure of a U.S. financial institution since the height of the financial crisis almost 15 years ago. Silicon Valley Bank, the nation’s 16th-largest bank, failed after depositors hurried to withdraw money this week amid anxiety over the bank’s health. It was the second biggest bank failure in U.S. history after the collapse of Washington Mutual in 2008. The bank served mostly technology workers and venture capital-backed companies, including some of the industry's best-known brands. “This is an extinction-level event for startups,” said Garry Tan, CEO of Y Combinator, a startup incubator that launched Airbnb, DoorDash and Dropbox and has referred hundreds of entrepreneurs to the bank. Also Read: 8 dead in shooting at rail yard serving Silicon Valley “I literally have been hearing from hundreds of our founders asking for help on how they can get through this. They are asking, ‘Do I have to furlough my workers?’” There appeared to be little chance of the chaos spreading in the broader banking sector, as it did in the months leading up to the Great Recession. The biggest banks — those most likely to cause an economic meltdown — have healthy balance sheets and plenty of capital. Nearly half of the U.S. technology and health care companies that went public last year after getting early funding from venture capital firms were Silicon Valley Bank customers, according to the bank’s website. The bank also boasted of its connections to leading tech companies such as Shopify, ZipRecruiter and one of the top venture capital firms, Andreesson Horowitz. Tan estimated that nearly one-third of Y Combinator’s startups will not be able to make payroll at some point in the next month if they cannot access their money. Internet TV provider Roku was among casualties of the bank collapse. It said in a regulatory filing Friday that about 26% of its cash — $487 million — was deposited at Silicon Valley Bank. Roku said its deposits with SVB were largely uninsured and it didn’t know “to what extent” it would be able to recover them. As part of the seizure, California bank regulators and the FDIC transferred the bank's assets to a newly created institution — the Deposit Insurance Bank of Santa Clara. The new bank will start paying out insured deposits on Monday. Then the FDIC and California regulators plan to sell off the rest of the assets to make other depositors whole. There was unease in the banking sector all week, with shares tumbling by double digits. Then news of Silicon Valley Bank's distress pushed shares of almost all financial institutions even lower Friday. The failure arrived with incredible speed. Some industry analysts suggested Friday that the bank was still a good company and a wise investment. Meanwhile, Silicon Valley Bank executives were trying to raise capital and find additional investors. However, trading in the bank’s shares was halted before stock market's opening bell due to extreme volatility. Shortly before noon, the FDIC moved to shutter the bank. Notably, the agency did not wait until the close of business, which is the typical approach. The FDIC could not immediately find a buyer for the bank's assets, signaling how fast depositors cashed out. The White House said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen was “watching closely.” The administration sought to reassure the public that the banking system is much healthier than during the Great Recession. “Our banking system is in a fundamentally different place than it was, you know, a decade ago,” said Cecilia Rouse, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. “The reforms that were put in place back then really provide the kind of resilience that we’d like to see.” In 2007, the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression rippled across the globe after mortgage-backed securities tied to ill-advised housing loans collapsed in value. The panic on Wall Street led to the demise of Lehman Brothers, a firm founded in 1847. Because major banks had extensive exposure to one another, the crisis led to a cascading breakdown in the global financial system, putting millions out of work. At the time of its failure, Silicon Valley Bank, which is based in Santa Clara, California, had $209 billion in total assets, the FDIC said. It was unclear how many of its deposits were above the $250,000 insurance limit, but previous regulatory reports showed that lots of accounts exceeded that amount. The bank announced plans Thursday to raise up to $1.75 billion in order to strengthen its capital position. That sent investors scurrying and shares plunged 60%. They tumbled lower still Friday before the opening of the Nasdaq, where the bank's shares were traded. As its name implied, Silicon Valley Bank was a major financial conduit between the technology sector, startups and tech workers. It was seen as good business sense to develop a relationship with the bank if a startup founder wanted to find new investors or go public. Conceived in 1983 by co-founders Bill Biggerstaff and Robert Medearis during a poker game, the bank leveraged its Silicon Valley roots to become a financial cornerstone in the tech industry. Bill Tyler, the CEO of TWG Supply in Grapevine, Texas, said he first realized something was wrong when his employees texted him at 6:30 a.m. Friday to complain that they did not receive their paychecks. TWG, which has just 18 employees, had already sent the money for the checks to a payroll services provider that used Silicon Valley Bank. Tyler was scrambling to figure out how to pay his workers. "We’re waiting on roughly $27,000," he said. "It’s already not a timely payment. It’s already an uncomfortable position. I don’t want to ask any employees, to say, ‘Hey, can you wait until mid-next week to get paid?’” Silicon Valley Bank's ties to the tech sector added to its troubles. Technology stocks have been hit hard in the past 18 months after a growth surge during the pandemic, and layoffs have spread throughout the industry. Venture capital funding has also been declining. At the same time, the bank was hit hard by the Federal Reserve's fight against inflation and an aggressive series of interest rate hikes to cool the economy. As the Fed raises its benchmark interest rate, the value of generally stable bonds starts to fall. That is not typically a problem, but when depositors grow anxious and begin withdrawing their money, banks sometimes have to sell those bonds before they mature to cover the exodus. That is exactly what happened to Silicon Valley Bank, which had to sell $21 billion in highly liquid assets to cover the sudden withdrawals. It took a $1.8 billion loss on that sale. Ashley Tyrner, CEO of FarmboxRx, said she had spoken to several friends whose businesses are backed by venture capital. She described them as being “beside themselves” over the bank's failure. Tyrner's chief operating officer tried to withdraw her company's funds on Thursday but failed to do so in time. “One friend said they couldn't make payroll today and cried when they had to inform 200 employees because of this issue,” Tyrner said.

Some private sector banks in Bangladesh are in deep crisis because of lack of adequate liquidity and are being forced to borrow money from state-owned Sonali Bank at a 9 percent interest rate to stay afloat. Islami Bank, Al-Arafah Islami Bank and National Bank are borrowing money from Sonali Bank at a 9 percent interest rate, which is the highest commercial lending rate at present. Economists and banking sector insiders say that it means the sector is passing through a hard time due to higher non-performing loans, lack of good governance and serious corruption in the management of the respective banks. They say at present the call money rate is between 6-7 percent while banks are borrowing at 9 percent rate, which proves the crisis has mounted in these banks. They also say the troubled banks have no other options, but to borrow money. Also read: 5 held for spreading rumors on social media about Islami Bank, S Alam group Both such borrowing and lending are very risky considering the ability of investment of these banks, they say. BRAC Bank Chairman Dr Ahsan H Mansur told UNB that some banks have lost their customers’ trust due to their mismanagement. “As a result, people have withdrawn money from those banks,” he said. Giving an example he said that the deposit of BRAC Bank increased by 33 percent in the last quarter while the deposit volumes of many banks decreased. Also read: Scam-hit Islami Bank earns operational profit in 2022, Basic Bank reports loss Usually, banks charge a higher interest rate to lend to other banks while considering it risky, he said. On 13 December 2022, the Sonali Bank’s Board of Directors approved the investment of Tk200 crore in fund placement in favour of Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited and Tk75 crore in favour of Al-Arafah Islami Bank Limited at a 9 percent lending rate for a period of 90 days. On the same day, the bank's Board also agreed to the proposal to extend the term of the Tk150 crore loans to National Bank for another six months at 9 percent interest subject to payment of the previous interest. It is a normal practice that when a bank faces a liquidity crisis it borrows from another bank via the interbank money market. Read More: 60% bank sub-branches must be outside city corporations, municipal areas: Bangladesh Bank But the liquidity situation in three private sector banks is so critical that they are forced to borrow from another bank at the highest commercial lending rate. According to the Bangladesh Bank's guidelines, banks can charge a maximum of 9 percent interest on all types of loans other than consumer loans such as auto loans and personal loans, in which case the highest lending rate ceiling is 12 percent. Professor Dr Abul Barakat told UNB that any short-term borrowing at such a rate is not harmful, but it could create trouble while getting such loans will be lingering. He said banks sometimes face a liquidity crisis, then it is required to borrow to meet the instant crisis. But a 9 percent lending rate for banks is high. Read More: Bangladesh Bank expects first instalment of $4.5 b IMF loan to arrive by next month: Spokesman “Then how much a bank would have to charge against any commercial loans,” he asked. Sector insiders say corruption and lack of good governance are the main reasons behind such a crisis. Some questioned the role and the ability of the central bank of Bangladesh to regulate commercial banks that fail to check corruption.

BRAC Bank Limited has recently published recruitment circular. The organization will hire Associate Relationship Manager, Corporate Banking Interested candidates can apply online. Post Name: Associate Relationship Manager, Corporate Banking Number of Posts: Not Determined. Employment Status: Full-time Educational Requirements Graduation from any UGC-approved university with a satisfactory academic track record, preferably in business administration; Experience Requirements At least 2 year(s) Additional Requirements ·        Minimum 2 years of work experience in relationship management in the Corporate Banking Division of a bank; ·        Proficient in knowledge of banking fundamentals, credit analysis, products, and processes; ·        Proficient in relationship management and business communication; ·        Extrovert personality with good communication and interpersonal skills; ·        Be self-propelled, customer-centric, team player and capable of meeting deadlines. Application Deadline: 25 Jan 2023 Job Location: Anywhere in Bangladesh Job Source Source: Bdjobs.com Online Job Posting.