Talha Bin Habib The management of 'Probashi Kallyan Bank' (expatriates' welfare bank) has taken initiative to function as a commercial bank, official sources said. With this end in view the bank is preparing a draft following the directives of the banking division under the ministry of finance (MoF). "We are preparing the draft to be sent to the banking division seeking approval for functioning as commercial bank," Deputy Managing Director of the bank Md Manzurur Rahman told the FE Sunday. The bank started functioning in April 2011. And so far over 2,500 people took migration loan from the bank. On an average 4-5 persons receive migration loan every day from the bank's city and branch offices at all the divisional towns. The authorised capital of the bank, a specialised and the first ever full-fledged expatriates' welfare bank in the globe is Tk 5.0 billion while the paid-up capital is Tk 1.0 billion. The rest Tk 4.0 billion would be raised by offloading shares. The expatriate Bangladeshis will be the only shareholders of the bank. At present the bank is operating through 22 branches across the country. The number will be 30 by the end of the year. It is now fully prepared for running commercial activities, the official said. But the existing laws of the expatriates' bank have a provision that empowers the government for allowing the bank to function as commercial activities. "We are ready to function as commercial bank. If we get the permission then it will enormously help expatriates in sending remittances smoothly through the bank," the official said. Under the existing banking rules, the expatriates' welfare bank could not receive remittances and offload its shares. The official said the bank is now providing migration loan at the rate of Tk 1,30,000-Tk 1,50,000 for Republic of Korea, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Singapore, Saudi Arabia and Mauritius Tk 1,00,000, Hong Kong Tk 1,30,000 and Tk 30,000 for Malaysia. The loan of the bank is collateral-free. The loan seekers must have a personal guarantor who may be his/ her family member or a respectable person in their locality. The recovery rate of migration loan is over 96 per cent. The DMD of the bank said the expatriates would be able to open accounts, deposit and withdraw money through online banking system after the bank starts functioning commercially.
Probashi Kallyan Bank to function as commercial bank
FE Team | Published: October 14, 2013 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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