Eight banks form Tk 1,335cr in special funds for stocks
ONE Bank chairman Sayeed H Chowdhury inaugurates the Mujib Corner installed by the bank as part of the celebrations to mark the birth centenary of the country’s founding president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, at the bank’s corporate headquarters in Dhaka on Sunday. The Mujib Corner at ONE Bank houses books, pictures and documents created on the life, works and ideals of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to help customers and bank officials learn about his life, struggle and ideals. Bank’s vice-chairman Asoke Das Gupta, executive committee chairman Zahur Ullah, directors ASM Shahidullah Khan, Kazi Rukunuddin Ahmed, Shawket Jaman, Salahuddin Ahmed and Syed Nurul Amin and managing director M Fakhrul Alam along with other senior executives of the bank were present on the occasion. — New Age photo
Eight banks have formed special funds worth Tk 1,365 crore for investing in the stock market and three other banks would complete the stock market fund formation by this week, BB executive director and spokesperson Md Serajul Islam said on Sunday.
Of the eight banks, Sonali Bank, Janata Bank, Shahjalal Islami Bank, Islami Bank, Social Islami Bank and United Commercial Bank have formed Tk 200 crore in stocks fund each.
Of the rest two banks, Rupali Bank formed a fund worth Tk 85 crore and The City Bank Tk 50 crore.
Besides the eight banks, Dhaka Bank, Mercantile Bank and Bank Asia would complete the fund formation process by this week.
Serajul disclosed the information after a meeting with the Bangladesh Merchant Bankers Association at the BB headquarters in Dhaka on the day with the BB governor Fazle Kabir in the chair.
At the meeting, BMBA president Md Sayadur Rahman requested the central bank to persuade the scheduled banks to expedite the formation of special fund in line with the BB’s policy facility announced on February 10.
Sayadur also mentioned that the fund formation was very much flexible.
‘In reply, the BB governor said that the central bank was maintaining continuous communications with the banks and the central bank was very much supportive of the capital market,’ Serajul quoted Kabir as saying.
Serajul also informed that the banks had an excess liquidity worth around Tk 1.06 lakh crore, meaning that they did not have any liquidity shortage.
So, the banks can form funds for the stock market if they desire to do so, he added.
The stock market has gone into a fresh phase of depression amid the global outbreak of coronavirus, prompting the finance minister as well as the central bank to come up with commitments to supporting the capital market.
On March 11, the World Health Organisation announced the coronavirus outbreak pandemic that made the stock market investors across the globe worried.
In the last two trading sessions, the key index of Dhaka Stock Exchange, DSEX, lost 261 points to close at 3,969 points on Sunday.
On Sunday, the DSEX hit almost a five-year low since May 4, 2015 when the index was at 3,959.73 points.
In the last 19 trading sessions, the DSEX lost around 800 points as coronavirus fears gripped the stocks investor and they continued to ditch shares.
An official of the BB said that the central bank also talked to Association of Bankers, Bangladesh chairman Ali Reza Iftekhar over expanding the banks’ support for the ailing capital market.
Finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal today would hold a meeting with the Bangladesh Association of Banks and the Association of Bankers, Bangladesh on the banking sector and the stock market.
Kabir and Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Khairul Hossain are expected to attend the meeting.