Terms to avail loan may be relaxed

Finance Minister A M A Muhith assured the securities regulator Monday of relaxing the conditions set for availing loan facility under the capital market re-financing scheme, officials said.
The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) officials said the assurance came at a meeting between the finance minister and the BSEC policymakers.
According to the BSEC officials the finance minister was very "positive", and the securities regulator hopes to deliver good news in this regard very soon.
Meanwhile, on Monday the securities regulator also extended the timeframe for submitting the applications to avail the loan facility by affected small investors for the fifth time up to April 30, 2014.
The BSEC has moved to convince the finance minister to relax the tough conditions set for availing loan under the re-financing scheme, as fund worth Tk 3.0 billion has still remained un-disbursed fully even after eight months of its release.
Recently the Bangladesh Merchant Bankers Association (BMBA) formally proposed the securities regulator to relax the conditions.
On Monday BSEC further extended the timeframe for disbursing margin loan at 1:1.5 ratio up to September 30, 2014, considering the prevailing market situation.
The loan ratio was supposed to be maintained until December 31, 2013. But the regulator earlier extended the timeframe up to March 31 (Monday).
"The BSEC policymakers informed the finance minister of the present situation regarding the re-financing scheme. He has assured them of considering relaxation of the tough conditions," Mohammad Saifur Rahman, a BSEC executive director, told the FE.
The conditions, among others, included submission of CIB report, corporate guarantee, and personal guarantee of directors of the borrowing agencies.
The borrowing agencies found submission of personal guarantee as the toughest condition due to unwillingness of their directors to provide guarantee for loans, to be disbursed against the portfolios of affected investors.