Md. Habibur Rahman Gazi has joined Bangladesh Development Bank Limited (BDBL) as Managing Director and chief executive officer (CEO). The Financial Institutions Division of the Ministry of Finance has appointed him recently. Prior to this Habibur Rahman served as Deputy Managing Director (DMD) at the Agrani Bank Limited. He started his banking career as a senior officer at Janata Bank Limited in 1988, a press release said. During his service at Janata Bank Limited, he worked at different branches, zones, and divisions of the bank. Habibur obtained an MSc degree in Geography from the University of Dhaka. Prior to this he also took part in various professional training and workshops in the country and abroad.  

New notes of Tk 2 and Tk 5 are coming to the market tomorrow, in order to meet the ongoing shortage of such notes, finance ministry sources said. The newly printed notes signed by Senior Finance Secretary Fatima Yasmin will be released from Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday. The financial institution division, a wing of the ministry of finance, has completed the official formalities to release these notes. These notes are ready and will be issued from Bangladesh Bank's Motijheel office on Tuesday. Later, the new notes will be issued periodically from other offices of Bangladesh Bank and scheduled banks. The colours, dimension, watermark, designs, and other security features of the new notes will remain the same as the current notes. Along with the newly printed notes, paper notes of two and five taka denominations and metal coins will also be in use.

Beximco Digital Distribution has signed a deal with Disney Star to distribute eight of their popular entertainment television channels across Bangladesh via paid television service through cable, IPTV, and OTT. The collaboration will see Beximco Digital distribute Disney Star's channels in the original languages of programming (Bangla, Hindi, and English) spanning three content genres – general entertainment, movies and factual or infotainment. READ: Binimoy says it can put an end to illegal digital transactions The channel portfolio will include Star Jalsha, Jalsha Movies, Star Plus, Star Gold, Star Bharat, National Geographic Channel, National Geographic Wild and Fox Life. "Bangladesh has a strong affinity for our content, especially the Bangla series and format shows on our class-leading Bangla general entertainment channel – Star Jalsha. We constantly explore opportunities to connect with our audiences and this latest collaboration with Beximco Digital is a step to further reach out to the viewers in Bangladesh," Sudhir Nagpal, head of international business at Disney Star, said. READ: US-Bangla adds one more Boeing 737-800 to its fleet Tariq Alam, executive director of Beximco Digital Distribution, said: "The government's mandate to digitise cable networks will bring a significant transformation to the TV industry. This will enable more secure ways of distribution of content, ensure a best-in-class experience to audiences across the country, contribute to economic growth and benefit the National Board of Revenue." Through this collaboration, Beximco Digital will be the first distributor in Bangladesh to take broadcasting services from Bangabandhu Satellite-1 for the uplink of foreign television channels.

Private carrier US-Bangla Airlines has added one more Boeing 737-800 aircraft to its fleet.  With the addition of one Boeing 737-800, the number of US-Bangla Airlines aircraft now stands at 17, highest among the private airlines of Bangladesh, Md Kamrul Islam, general manager (public relations) of the US-Bangla, said Sunday. Read: US-Bangla Airlines wins Best Domestic Airlines award The new Boeing 737-800 landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka Saturday at 5:50pm directly from Kuwait. Captain Lutfor Rahman, chief executive officer of US-Bangla, officially received the aircraft. The aircraft has 189 economy class seats, Kamrul said. Apart from operating flights on all domestic routes, US-Bangla now runs flights to Kolkata, Chennai, Male, Muscat, Doha, Dubai, Sharjah, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Guangzhou.

Mobile financial services (MFS) provider Nagad has won the Mastercard Excellence Award 2022 for its contribution to digital innovation in Bangladesh's financial sector. The MFS provider has also won the award in the online category for its contribution to merchant business. The distribution ceremony of the Mastercard Excellence Award 2022 under the title "Towards a Smart Transformation" was organized at Dhaka hotel recently. REad: Walton CEO, CMO score Bangladesh C-Suite Awards Mastercard, a global technology company in the payments industry, said this award is given to different financial institutions that contribute to the implementation of the Smart Bangladesh vision. The company awarded 23 such organisations in 15 categories this year, the fourth of such an arrangement. In one category, Nagad won the Excellence in Digital Innovation recognition in the fiscal year 2021-22 for Mastercard bill payment. The MFS also won an award in the Excellence in Mastercard Business (Merchant) online 2021-22 category. Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi joined the award-giving ceremony as the chief guest, which was attended by Bangladesh Bank Executive Director Md Khurshid Alam as the guest of honour. Mastercard South Asia Chief Operating Officer Bikash Verma and its Bangladesh Country Manager Syed Mohammad Kamal were also present. Read: Daraz hosts Bangladesh Media Innovation Awards 2022 Bikash said they are glad to recognise the organisations that come up with necessary and innovative digital payment solutions and thus contribute to Bangladesh's growth. Nagad Founder and Managing Director Tanvir A Mishuk said the awards from Mastercard have added a new feather to the MFS provider which is trying to include the unbanked people into the financial system. Nagad has earlier won the Best Innovation Digital Financial Service Award for the first KYC Innovation in Bangladesh, Inclusive Fintech Fifty Award, Best Digital Financial Service Provider Award, WITSA Global Excellence Award, Digital Bangladesh Award, E-Commerce Mover Award, Best Marketing Communication Award and more.

Sixty-seven tax lawyers' associations in the country have applied for an extension of two months for filing income tax returns due to the delay in receiving circulars of the tax year 2022-2023, Bangladesh Tax Lawyers Association (BTLA) has said. They also demanded to take into account the unfavorable situation in the economy due to the global economic recession. The central organization of tax lawyers, BTLA, has agreed to the demands of the associations. Read more: Govt struggles to lift tax-GDP ratio to double digits BTLA Secretary Advocate Khorshed Alam said that a separate application has been submitted to the NBR chairman in this regard. The tax lawyers’ organizations say that apart from the economic downturn, there is a huge shortfall in the National Board of Revenue (NBR) campaign this year. Due to this, there are more than 80 lakh e-TIN holders, but the number of return filings is few so far. Read more: NBR counting losses for rampant tax evasion Considering the circumstances, an extension of two months has been requested to allow taxpayers an opportunity to file their returns.

Equipped with cutting edge technology, the newly launched platform for digital financial transactions, Binimoy, can put an end to any illegal transaction, currently used frequently to rob people who rely on mobile financial services (MFS), a spokesperson of the platform has said. In reference to the recent arrest of three fraudsters by law enforcers in Bogura, the official, on condition of anonymity, said Binimoy authority was the first to identify the location and tipped off law enforcers to track these swindlers. Such malpractices are common in Bangladesh and some fraud groups are doing their transactions using MFS gateways, he said, requesting Binimoy users to get in contact with prior monetary service providing organizations in case they encounter any kind of issue during registration or transaction. Binimoy ensures clarity by providing uninterrupted and secure transactions between different payment system providers, at a cost-effective rate, added the official. Read: Interoperable digital transaction platform Binimoy to be inaugurated Sunday Days back, a team of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) arrested three people from Bogura while stealing money of general MFS users, and several media outlets reported the incident. According to CID, the frauds used the Islami Bank CellFin app to infiltrate Binimoy and managed to steal Tk96.74 lakh from bKash. However, the prompt action by Binimoy has not been taken positively by a group who charges a pretty high amount against providing certain services. Other competitors present in the market cannot tolerate a safety insured cost-effective rate and dynamic service's arrival, the official added. Attacking each other is common among the MFS providers in Bangladesh, both in real life and social media platforms, alleged the official. Launched weeks back, Binimoy, the first such platform, is a bridge among customers, businessmen, payment service providers, e-wallets, banks, monetary organizations, payment system operators, government and private institutions. Read: Binimoy: Interoperable Digital Transaction Platform could open a new horizon in money transfer People will be able to do all kinds of financial transactions securely, such as giving salary to workers, VAT / Tax, e-commerce transactions with clarity, by using Binimoy and this app is highly secured, because two factor authentication is mandatory to do each single transaction, according to a statement from Binimoy.

Bangladesh India Business Council (BIBC), Women's Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (WICCI), and Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA) organized the International Women Entrepreneur’s Summit 2022 on the 23rd and 24th of November. The annual summit aims to champion women's entrepreneurship and focus on the bilateral commercial ties between Bangladesh and India. As part of recognizing female excellence in business and industry, BIBC-WICCI recently held its excellence awards for 2022 at Hotel Radisson. The award was given to exceptional women and organizations in championing female contribution and growth in several streams. This year’s theme focused on education and skill development, young innovators, fashion and arts, business and SMEs, health, and public service. Read More: Find foreign partners for technology transfer, PM tells businessmen BIBC – WICCI honored 7 international female entrepreneurs along with 14 Bangladeshi companies and female leaders in their respective streams. Uzma Chowdhury, Managing Director of RFL, Rupali Chowdhury, CEO of Berger Paints, and Shopna Bhowmik, Regional head of Marks and Spencers India and Bangladesh, were awarded as the Outstanding Women in Business. One of the main sessions of the summit focused on the graduation of SMEs. Farzanah Chowdhury, Managing Director of Green Delta Insurance Ltd, moderated the session. The keynote speaker for the session was Barrister Nihad Kabir, Chairperson of BUILD. The guest speakers for the session were Syed Nasim Manzur, MD, and Co-founder of Apex Footwear Ltd; Tamara Hasan Abed, Managing Director, Aarong; Dr. Mafizur Rahman, managing Director SME Foundation and finally, Dato Tom Abang Saufi, Chairman of the National Art Gallery, Malaysia. Read More: Despite Tk 2000cr credit guarantee, only Tk 192cr loan disbursed to CMSMEs The overarching theme of the session was the overall condition of SMEs and the role of Women in it. The guest speakers also shared their ideas about the challenges faced by women in their respective industries. The session started with the keynote speech from Barrister Nihad Kabir. She presented the overall scenario where the cottage, micro, and small CMSMEs contribute over 25% of the GDP, 45% of the manufacturing GDP, 75% of export earnings, and over 87% of industrial employment. Yet there seems to be a disproportion of incentives and loans provided to the CMSMEs compared to the medium and large enterprises. What was even more surprising is that out of the 8 million CMSMEs in Bangladesh, only 8% are owned by women, which is the lowest in South Asia. Read More: 'ONDC to play key role in business development of online SMEs' Barrister Nihad Kabir identified two main constraints for such a disproportion of initiatives and ownership -the documentation and ownership procedure and the financing opportunities. By definition, the ownership of a CMSME doesn’t have to be the same as the one holding the trade license for the business. But the tendency of financial organizations to treat the trade license as proof of ownership and a general archaic tendency to divert female loans has only made the situation grave. Then the discussion brought the second issue to light: access to financing opportunities. Very recently, there has been a policy initiative by Bangladesh Bank to segregate the medium industry from the CMSMEs. This move has allowed CMSMEs to access better loan disbursement. Currently, only about 7 to 8% loans are disbursed to female-owned SMEs. Read More: MSMEs: Experts want realistic steps taken to enhance service quality, business development Ms. Kabir also pointed out that because of the documentation-related hassle, 63% of the female entrepreneurs solely rely on their personal savings to start a business with the MFI, and the banks make up only 24%. She also identified that banks and NBFIs should be more inclined to disburse female entrepreneurial loans. Specialized financial institutions should also be set up along with direct lending and PPP to enhance the existing structure better. Syed Nasim Manzur, while sharing insight into the footwear and leather industries, pointed out that women are interested in starting ventures in the leather industries. However, the hassles of documentation and an archaic male-dominated mindset in the industry are strong barriers along with the financial aspect. He also emphasized the need to develop technical know-how about the leather and footwear industry before diving into it. Mr. Manzur also pointed out several regulatory shortcomings where an export contractor like Apex cannot utilize the small up-and-coming SME ventures because of outdated customs, VAT, and financing rules. He pointed out these are creating a barrier to the growth and scalability of female-led ventures in the footwear industries. Read More: '91% SMEs don't get bank loans' Tamara Hasan Abed focused more on the financing aspect through BRAC. BRAC bank has been a pioneer in providing loans to CMSMEs, especially the ones led by Aarong. Aarong, through its several sub-brands, has enabled and empowered rural CMSMEs and is continuing its stride in ethical growth. Dr. Rahman and Ms. Saufi also chimed in on the need for financial restructuring and a change of mindset in enabling women in CMSMEs. The need for documentation reform and better access to equitable funding like impact funds and venture capitalization should also be streamlined to finance the female-led CMSMEs. BIBC-WICCI Awards 2022 Event's Graduation of SME Session concluded with the interaction between the guest speakers and the participants. The speakers explored several of the established constraints and how they affect individual industries and even on the micro initiative level. Read More: BCI, SME Foundation tie up for capacity building of small, medium industries

Islami Bank Bangladesh inaugurated its Islampur branch in Jamalpur Thursday. Md Faridul Haque Khan, state minister for religious affairs, inaugurated the 394th branch of the bank as chief guest, according to a media statement. Mohammed Monirul Moula, managing director and chief executive officer of the bank, was also present. Islami Bank is a joint venture public limited company engaged in commercial banking business based on Islamic shariah. Established in 1983 as the first Islamic bank in Southeast Asia, it is listed on the Dhaka Stock Exchange and Chittagong Stock Exchange. Read more: Islami Bank opens Bonpara branch in Natore

The Ministry of Commerce has extended the validity of both the Import Registration Certificate (IRC) and Export Registration Certificate (ERC) to five years from one year. The ministry in a notification said that as part of the ease of doing business and following the demand from businesses in the country, the government has decided to extend the registration validity for IRC and ERC. Read more: BGMEA for ensuring workers' health, well-being for improving productivity The traders can get IRC or ERC as per the requirement of 1 to 5 years by paying the necessary fees. The tenure will be counted from the issuing date of the certificate. The IRC and ERC are renewable. The trade bodies and businesses have been demanding extension of the tenure and a hassle-free renewal system for a long time. Read more: Initiatives taken to establish fair price shops for RMG workers