Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The central bank of Bangladesh has asked the commercial banks to clear all pending loan rescheduling proposals under special consideration by the end of this month, officials said.
The instruction was issued at a meeting of bankers held in the central bank headquarters in the capital Dhaka on Thursday with Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman in the chair.
The central bank has issued no-objection certificates for rescheduling loans of 500-600 business entities under special consideration in the last couple of months, the BB governor informed the meeting.
“This is high time to stop the scope for loan rescheduling under special consideration as the country is now politically stable and economy is vibrant,” the governor explained.
He also suggested that the bankers provide loans to the customers after completing due diligence and mitigating risks.
At the meeting, the managing directors and chief executive officers (CEOs) of all scheduled banks have also been asked to reschedule loan applying the Banking Regulation and Policy Department (BRPD)’s circular number 15, issued in 2012, from October 1.
The meeting also decided to form a high-powered committee, headed by SK Sur Chowdhury, deputy governor of the central bank, to formulate modus operandi to establish a world-class hospital for the employees of all commercial banks and non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) and their dependants.
“The hospital will be established with contribution of the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) funds from both the commercial banks and the central bank,” Mr. Chowdhury said after the meeting.
Talking to BBN, another BB official said the banks and NBFIs staff and their dependants will be able to get medical service from the proposed hospital at discount rates.
The common people, however, will have to pay usual fees and charges like private clinics if they want to receive medical service from the hospital, the central banker added.
The BB also asked the bankers for taking efective measures to provide housing loan to the freedom fighters for 25-year tenure at low interest rate by keeping lien their (freedom fighters) monthly government-provided allowance with scheduled banks.
The Association of Bankers, Bangladesh (ABB), an organisation of the chief executives of the scheduled banks, will form a committee to devise a product within a month considering the interest rate on such housing loan as a CSR activity, they added.
The central bank suggested the ABB to submit a formal proposal to the Election Commission (EC) to reduce the charge for using its (EC) national identity database.
The banks and NBFIs are not happy with the EC decision to charge Tk 2.0 for each crosscheck of their clients’ information using the NID database.
The BB also asked the banks to provide loan to school- and college-going female students for bicycle purchase.
BBN/SSR/AI
