The New Nation - Internet Edition

Loko Bima of Meghna Life earns Tk 67cr as premium: Tk 100cr premium earning target fixed

ECONOMIC REPORTER

Loko Bima of Meghna Life Insurance Co. Ltd earned Tk 67 crore as premium in 2007 inspite of the devastating natural calamities throughout the year.

It was told at the year-ending meeting of Loko Bima of Meghna Life Insurance Co Ltd which was held recently at the head office at Motijheel in Dhaka.

Besides, the company fixed the earning target of Tk 100 crore as premium in 2008.

Ekramul Ameen FCA, Managing Director, chaired the the meeting. It was attended by Nizamuddin Ahmed, Chairman of the company.

Col. (Retd) Shamsuddin Ahmed, Director, M.A. Majid FCA, Director (Finance and Admin), Mujib-ud-daula, Adviser, Rezaul Hakim, Adviser (Marketing), Md. Hemayet Ullah, Senior Executive Director of Loko Bima attended the meeting as special guests. Other Senior Executives, high officials and invited field officials were present.

The meeting reviewed the business of Loko Bima in 2007 and expressed satisfaction over earning of premium at the tune of Tk 67 crore inspite of natural calamities. The meeting expressed gratitude to the Senior Executive Director Loko Bima and other related senior officials. The meeting called upon all concerned to achieve the earning target of Tk 100 crore as premium this year.

HBFC meeting evaluates strategic plans, implementation during July-Jan period

ECONOMIC REPORTER

Higher officials of the Bangladesh House Building Finance Corporation (BHBFC) held a meeting at the corporation's head office in the capital. The meeting evaluated strategic plans and implementation during the July-January period of current fiscal year.

The meeting, which was chaired by the BHBFC Managing Director A K M Sajedur Rahman, discussed corporation's business with other district heads of BHBFC. Zonal and regional officials of the corporation were also present in the discussion.

It was mentioned that total Tk 117 crore was allocated as loan target for the first seven months of the fiscal year 2007-08.

Till the date, total Tk72 crore was dispersed among clients of every category as house finance loans.

Beside that, Tk201 crore was collected from the clients, which was 85 per cent of targeted Tk236 crore, set for the period. The collection was Tk13 crore higher than the collection recorded during the same period in previous year, as mentioned in the meeting.

During the same period, collection of classified loan was Tk40 crore from the targeted Tk60 crore, as mentioned.

During the first seven month of 2007-08 fiscal year, the corporation earned Tk4.53 crore from the sale of abandoned houses. It was Tk 3.77 crore higher than the amount collected in the previous year.

Beside that, during the period, settlement of 331 cases was targeted, where the corporation overwhelmingly settled 355 such deputes in the court.

Premier Bank monthly managers' meet held

The Monthly Managers' Meeting of The Premier Bank Limited was held at bank's head office in the city recently. B. H. Haroon, Vice-Chairman of the bank was present in the meeting as chief guest.

In his speech, BH Haroon expressed his satisfaction about the progress made by the bank. All participants vowed to work harder to bring about improvements in customer services in the coming days. Khondker Fazle Rashid, Managing Director of the bank presided the over meeting.

Khondker Fazle Rashid, in his speech, urged the branch managers to fulfill the budgetary target for the year 2008. He also stressed on selection of potential borrowers and recovery of overdue and write-off loans on priority basis.

All executives at the head office, all branch managers and divisional heads in the head office were present at the meeting.

Bangladesh Brand Forum: Etihad Airways official airline partner

ECONOMIC REPORTER

Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates, has become the airline partner of upcoming 'Bangladesh Brand Forum- Leadership Summit 2008.' The summit begins at Radisson Hotel Dhaka today.

Bangladeshi business leaders, CEOs and high officials of various corporate organisations are attending the summit.

The summit is titled 'Transforming Corporate, Transforming Bangladesh.' Prof John Quelch, Senior Dean of Harvard Business School, CEO Consultant and Writer Nikos Mourkogiannis, Martin Roll, CEO Venture Republic, Author Asian Brand Strategy, Anjon Roy Chowdhury, Head of Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Indian Institute of Management are attending to enrich the summit.

K Ashraful Kabir, Country Manager, Etihad Airways, Bangladesh said, "Business leaders from different arena will come and share their experiences, express their concerns about corporate strategy and sustainable growth. We are proud to be the airline partner of this prestigious leadership summit 2008.'

Shariful Islam, Chief Executive of Brand Zeal, the Organiser of Bangladesh Brand Forum--Leadership Summit 2008' expresses his gratitude to Etihad for being the official carrier of this event.

He said that actually it would have been tough to arrange such a summit without corporate support. 'We expect Etihad would extend its supportive hand in future too,' he said.

IPDC enters consumer banking with auto loan

ECONOMIC REPORTER

The Industrial Promotion and Development Company (IPDC) yesterday officially entered into consumer banking from corporate banking, introducing auto-loan scheme. The service will be available for all clients from today.

"Our presence in corporate banking business has been well appreciated and internationally acknowledged. Now, we want to extend our financial support to individual consumers as well. Our auto-loan scheme is the first step towards our customer friendly banking strategy," said Mominul Islam, Managing Director and CEO of IPDC.

According to Islam, clients will be issued auto-loans in more flexible manner and in comparatively shorter processing time. He also assured of lowest interest rates that would be offered to clients.

"In case of clear records and liability presentation, our bank would issue desired auto-loans within 24 hours," he said.

IPDC is one of the leading financial institute, which has been serving its clients successfully through specialised projects for the last 26 years since its inception in 1981, said Sales Manager of IPDC Khled Afzal Rahim.

According to Khaled, the auto loan scheme is another addition to the IPDC's service line for the mass consumers. Our objective would be to achieve customer satisfaction by providing competitive rates and services, he added.

StanChart opens ATM in Ctg

Standard Chartered Bank has recently launched ATM Services from Station Road Branch, Chittagong. Tanvir Haider Chaudhury, Head of Shared Distribution and Service Quality of SCB inaugurated the A TM Services from this booth. Fazle Jamil Niaz Pir, Area Head of Consumer Banking, Chittagong were present among others.

This new ATM will provide 24-hour cash withdrawal facilities to all VISA, MasterCard, Cirrus and Maestro cardholders. Additionally, Standard Chartered customers can also deposit cash/cheque, pay bills, transfer funds, check their balance and print mini-statement of their accounts any time of the day, 7 days a week all year round.

Standard Chartered Bank plans to open more such A TM booths in Chittagong in the near future.