The New Nation - Internet Edition

CDBL to work for dematerialisation of National Housing shares

BUSINESS REPORT

Central Depository Bangladesh Ltd (CDBL) will work for dematerialisation of the shares of National Housing Finance and Investments Ltd. An agreement was signed in this connection in the city Monday. National Housing Managing Director Abdur Rab and CEO of CDBL MH Samad signed the agreement on behalf of their respective companies. The deal covers full dematerialisation of the shares of National Housing including their forthcoming IPO shares.

BB relaxes foreign exchange transaction guidelines

BUSINESS REPORT

Bangladesh Bank has relaxed the foreign exchange guidelines for providing more facilities to the exporters, travelers and foreign investors.

Following the relaxation in foreign exchange transaction guidelines, the exporters, travelers, resident foreign currency depositors and people intending to perform hajj, from now, will be able to make their payments through international credit and debit cards.

The central bank issued a circular on Tuesday bringing relaxation in the

Guidelines for Foreign Exchange Transactions-1996.

From now, the Bangladesh Bank approval is no more required for the intending foreign investors to make investment and Bangladeshi travelers to go abroad, said a high official of the central bank.

He said the foreign airlines, shipping lines and courier services have to inform Bangladesh Bank within 15 days of sending remittance through their authorised dealers and submit a set of all relevant papers to the central bank.

According to the circular, the authorised dealers may open a Non-resident Taka Account in the name of the proposed company or enterprise of foreign investors contemplating to invest in Bangladesh without prior approval of Bangladesh Bank.

Upon registration and commencement of the business, a new account in the name of the company may be opened following usual procedure. However, the account opened previously should be closed immediately and balances lying therein shall be transferred to the new account.

The authorised dealers may release registration or participation fee of the government officials, employees of banks and financial institutions operating in Bangladesh, and faculties of nationally recognised banking training institutions for attending training or seminar or workshop abroad.

The dealers may allow remittance of subscription fee for academic or research journals to be procured from abroad by public universities and medical colleges, recognised national research or training institutes, university grants commission approved private universities and government approved private medical colleges, up to $3000 or equivalent for an institution per calendar year against production of invoice supporting documents subject to establishment of bonafides. Such remittances are to be reported to Bangladesh Bank.

They must see, before opening an LC, documentary evidence that a firm order for the goods to be imported has been placed and accepted. They should also obtain confidential report on the exporter from their branches in their discretion, satisfy themselves as to the standing of the exporter by consulting standard book of reference issued by international credit rating agencies such as Seyds, Dunn and Bradstreet in all cases where the amount of the LC exceeds Tk 5 lakh against perform invoices issued direct by foreign suppliers and Tk 10 lakh against indents issued by local agents of the suppliers.

According to the changed guidelines, an incoming person may retain foreign exchange up to $5000 or equivalent brought in by him without endorsement in passport and in air ticket.

The dealers will comply all instructions issued so far relating to issuance of international cards and those relating to new issuance.

International credit or debit cards may be issued against the balances held in the exporter's retention quota foreign currency account as per entitlement mentioned in the Guidelines for foreign exchange Transactions.

International credit and debit cards may be issued in favour of up to three top level executives of an exporting firm holding retention quota. International credit card may be issued against the balance held in resident foreign currency deposit account by authorities' dealers in Bangladesh.

The authorised dealer may issue international credit card against the annual personal travel quota entitlement of the prospective cardholder as per the guidelines.

Each year, government dealer's general permission for releasing foreign exchange favouring private sector hajj agencies to meet food and lodging expenses of the pilgrims in Saudi Arabia against foreign exchange entitlement fixed for each individual.

International cardholder may pay their mobile phone roaming service utilisation bill to mobile phone operators in Bangladesh through international card. For realisation of roaming bills, the mobiles phone operator will specify the bill under the category SAARC and non-SAARC member countries, including the amount of security deposit, of the customer.

25th AGM held: Pubali Bank declares two bonus shares for five ordinary shares

BUSINESS REPORT

The 24th Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Pubali Bank Limited was held at BIAM Foundation auditorium, Dhaka on September 25 last.

Hafiz Ahmed Majumder, Chairman, Board of Directors of Pubali Bank Ltd presided over the meeting.

Pubali Bank Limited declared two bonus shares for every five ordinary shares (40 percent bonus share) as dividend for its shareholders for the year 2007 in the 25th Annual General meeting.

Directors Moniruddin Ahmed, Sk Wahidur Rahman, Giasuddin Ahmed, Monzurur Rahman, Syed Moazzem Hussain, Ahmed Shafi Chowdhury, Habibur Rahman, Fahim Ahmed Faruk Chowdhury, M Faizur Rahman, Mostafa Ahmed, Managing Director Helal Ahmed Chowdhury, Chief Financial Officer ATM Hasanuzzaman, Company Secretary AFM Asaduzzaman and other senior executives also attended the meeting.

A large number of shareholders actively participated in the discussion about the overall performance of the bank in the AGM. They expressed their satisfaction. They also gave some suggestion for further improvement.

3 firms win WiMAX licences

BUSINESS REPORT

Three companies, Bangla Lion Communications, Brac Bdmail Network Ltd and Aguri Wireless Broadband Bangladesh Ltd, have won licences to operate WiMAX or Broadband Wireless Access in Bangladesh, a BTRC official said on Wednesday.

The three firms purchased the licences in auction for Tk 215 crore, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission media consultant Abbas Faruk told bdnews24.com.

The auction started around 11:30 am at the capital's Radisson Hotel and ended around 2:45 pm.

The nine vying for licences were Aguri Wireless Broadband Bangladesh Ltd, Bangla Lion Communications, Bangladesh Internet Exchange Ltd, Brac Bdmail Network Ltd, Clearstream Ranks (Bd) Ltd, Mango Teleservices Ltd, P-1 Consortium, Telestar Communications Ltd and Vtel Bangla.

Bangla Lion Communications began by offering 27.50 percent of the revenue to the government, before the contest heated up.

The three companies that won will run WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) technology that allows wireless data to travel over long distances by various means, from point-to-point links to full mobile cellular type access.

The chief adviser's special assistant MA Malek, in charge of post and telecommunications, told reporters earlier at the auction venue: "I have come here to observe whether the auction is being held transparently."

On ISPs cutting internet fees for subscribers, MA Malek said: "This is the responsibility of BTRC to regulate. The commission did not have full regulatory powers in the past, but it will get them soon."

Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, who will issue the three licenses, has estimated that once WiMAX is functional the number of internet users across the country will cross 1 crore.

Sept 11 was the deadline for submission of applications. BTRC, who invited applications in August, said a total 12 bid documents were sold, with nine companies eventually submitting their documents.

Internet service providers had originally asked the government to open up WiMAX licensing to Bangladeshi organisations qualifying on merit.

Mobile operators in Bangladesh and anyone having invested in them were barred from bidding for a BWA license.

The licence acquisition fee, fixed by the BTRC auction, will be supplemented by an annual license fee of Tk 3 crore [BDT 30 million].

According to the licence conditions, the winning companies will set up at least 90 base stations in the first year, and the whole country will have to be brought under WiMAX network within three years.

Foreign investment in the licenced companies should not be more than 60 percent and non resident Bangladeshis are allowed to invest at 70 percent ownership.

The licencees will have to file for initial public offering (IPO) within three years of the issuance of a license, and shall not be allowed to transfer any shares before issuance of the IPO without prior written permission from the commission.

Standard Bank opens 31st branch at Matuail

BUSINESS REPORT

The 31st Branch of Standard Bank Ltd was inaugurated at Matuail (Konarapra, Momenbagh Circle, Demra) in Dhaka, on September 21 last.

Chairman of the bank Kazi Akramuddin Ahmed inaugurated the branch as the chief guest while Vice Chairman Abdul Ahad was present as special guest. Executive Committee (EC) Chairman Kamal Mostafa Chowdhury, Audit Committee Chairman Alhaj Mohammad Shamsul Alam, Director Sahazada Syed Nizamuddin Ahmed and Sponsors Messrs. Muhammad Numl Islam, Ferozur Rahman, Hamn Rashid Chowdhury, Mohammed Abdul Aziz and Mrs. Monowara Begum were present as guests of honour.

Managing Director SA Farooqui presided over the function. DMD Md Nazmus Salehin, clients, prominent industrialists, business personalities and local elites of Matuail were present on the occasion. Kazi Akramuddin Ahmed in his address said that Standard Bank Ltd has been able to achieve steady growth maintaining high ethical standard of Banking and by extending modern and prompt banking services to its valued clients. In the short span of time, the bank now stands as a modern, progressive, sound, strong Bank in the country. He told that the newly opened Matuail branch of the bank is directly connected with centralized on-line banking network system of the bank utilizing the world class software 'STELER' as a result of which any client of the Matual will be able to transact outside of his area with the other branches of the bank located throughout the country. Vice Chairman, Managing Director, Directors, Sponsors, Deputy Managing Director, valued clients of the bank spoke on the occasion and praised the bank authorities to open the branch in the said area and also invited to avail the bank's quality services.

Paramount Insurance holds 9th AGM

The 9th annual general meeting of Paramount Insurance was held recently at the Hall Room of National Shooting Federation, Gulshan in the city.

The meeting was presided over by the Chairman of Paramount Insurance Shakhawat Hossain.

Huge number of shareholders was present at the AGM. Among others, Vice-Chairman of Paramount Insurance Alock Das, Managing Director Azizul Islam, the Board of Directors and senior company officials also attended.

United Airways links Dhaka with Kolkata

BUSINESS REPORT

United Airways launched its maiden regional flight to Kolkata on Wednesday linking Dhaka and the capital of the West Bengal state of India.

The airline, which has two Canada-built 37-seat Dash 8-100 aircraft, would initially operate a flight daily between the two cities, a senior United Airways official told reporters.

The airline hoped to expand its flight network to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Bahrain and Dubai in the near future, an official said.

Starting in July last year with a single Canada built 37-seat Dash 8-100 aircraft the airline operates in five destinations in Bangladesh, including the capital Dhaka. United Airways is the latest Bangladeshi carrier to fly international and regional routes after state-owned Biman Bangladesh Airlines and private airlines GMG Airlines and Best Air.

Bangladesh Real Estate Directory 2008 published

BUSINESS REPORTER

The publication ceremony of Bangladesh Real Estate Directory-2008 has been held in the city recently. Apart from journalists from different newspapers, publisher and editor of the Directory Rebeka Kaniz and chief executive Yasin Khan were present at the function.

Yasin Khan said the Bangladesh Real Estate Directory is better and richer this year than that of the previous year. He said Directory provides information and counselling about construction materials and buying and selling of lands, flats and plots. Moreover, it provides contact and website addresses, and locations of different real estate companies as well as the Building Codes of Rajuk. For details information one can contact with Dhaka Office of the Bangladesh Real Estate Directory.

BRAC Bank opens 3 new ATM booths in Dhaka City

BRAC Bank Limited has opened ATM Booths at Road-ll in Banani, Gulshan-2 Circle and Mohakhali recently.

Mr. Firoz Ahmed Khan, Head of Retail Banking of BRAC Bank inaugurated these new ATM Booths in three separate locations. Mr. Abedur Rahman Sikder, Head of Marketing & Corporate Affairs, Mr. Abdur Rahman, Head of Assets, Retail Banking and other senior officials of the Bank were also present there.

There has been a high demand for ATM Booth in these localities and responding to that BRAC Bank opened new ATM Booths to provide 24 hour cash withdrawal facility. To offer further convenience for its customers. These modern ATMs can be operated both in English and Bengali language.

Mindshare re-brands to reflect global restructure

Business Report

Mindshare, the global marketing and media network, yesterday unveiled a comprehensive worldwide re-brand of its corporate identity in aim to become client 'lead business partner'.

The redesign, developed in partnership with branding agency Moving Brands, coincides with the WPP agency's ongoing global restructure announced earlier this year - its first since launching.

The network's branding retains the signature colour purple, which was established at its inception from the merger of JWT and Ogilvy & Mather media departments in 1997, but includes a complete refresh of the agency's brand mark and visual identity.

The bespoke word mark shows Mindshare in upper case [as shown above]. When written in prose Mindshare no longer has the upper case "S" previously used - hence the company's name will now be written Mindshare and not MindShare.

In visual form on the printed page, this will represent the agency's new simplified approach, re-engineering its structure from more than a dozen separate specialist departments to four integrated, collaborative groups: Client Leadership, Business Planning, Invention and The Exchange.

The bold new brand mark expresses Mindshare's progressive attitude to new technology and the connected way in which the network views the media landscape.

Ailsa Lochrie, Mindshare Worldwide marketing director, said: "As part of Mindshare's drive to constantly reinvent itself and offer the best and most relevant service to our clients and as part of the ongoing network wide restructure we took this opportunity to reinvigorate our company identity both internally and externally.

"This new identity heralds our next stage of growth as a new model agency, one that acts as a marketing spine to our client's business, focusing on partnerships, consumer exchanges and collaborations."

In Bangladesh, brand Mindshare and other GroupM media companies belong to the Asiatic Communications group. Marking this occasion their chairperson Aly Zaker said: "This re-branding would reflect a change that would augment a greater value to the client's business needs and the company's objective of furthering the cause of total communication in the ever changing business environment in Bangladesh."

IGLOO launches Fruit n Nut ice cream at Agora

IGLOO has introduced a new premium family range product, IGLOO Fruit n Nut. The product was launched at Agora-Moghbazar on Thursday (September 25).

Niaz Rahim, Managing Director of Rahimafrooz Superstores Ltd, and GM Kamrul Hassan, Head of Marketing of Igloo Category, jointly unveiled the ice cream.

Niaz Rahim in his speech thanked IGLOO management for choosing Agora as the venue of launching their new product.

"It's our great pleasure that we've attained a position that attracts many companies as a strong forum for their product marketing," he said.

Kamrul Hassan said IGLOO Fruit n Nut is the result of their company's continuous effort to introduce new product keeping consumer needs in mind.

The product is made of Vanilla along with premium fruits and nuts bits.

Kamrul IGLOO's innovation will continue in future as well.

Agora General Manager Kiswar Imdad, IGLOO National Sales Manager MA Bayes, Sales Manager Mazidul Hoq, Brand Managers M Sajjadur Rahman, Syed Akram Hossain and Hassan Mahmud, Agora Moghbazar Store Manager Abu Sayeed Mahmud and other high officials from both the companies were present at the launching programme.