The Bank of England cut its growth forecast for Britain’s economy to zero in the second quarter of 2019 and highlighted risks from global trade tensions and growing fears of a no-deal Brexit.

Computer meltdowns. Unexplained holes in accounting. Personnel management scandals.

The Reserve Bank of India diluted its guidelines on stressed assets and has now mandated banks to undertake a review of a borrower’s accounts within 30 days of default, according to a circular issued on Friday.

The Bank of England is approaching the time when it will need to raise interest rates again to keep inflation pressures in check, its chief economist Andy Haldane wrote in an article which pushes back strongly against recent market sentiment.

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde warned on Saturday that the increasing presence of technology giants using big data and artificial intelligence could cause a significant disruption to the world’s financial system.

The continued slowdown in deposit growth can go on to raise concerns of stability of the banking sector, said a Bangladesh Bank report -- in a pressing call to the government to cut down the interest rate on national savings certificates.

Banks should be the only ones setting the interest rates as they offer loans at rates that are based on factors like cost of funds, credit worthiness of a customer and the prevailing market condition, said AKM Shaheed Reza, chairman of Mercantile Bank.

The government’s interest burden is likely to get heavier in the upcoming fiscal year thanks to its excessive reliance on high-cost national savings certificates to fund its expenditures.

The central bank yesterday injected Tk 2,300 crore into the money market to ease liquidity crunch in the banking sector amid the cash withdrawal spree in the lead up to Eid.

Syed Faridul Islam has recently joined United Commercial Bank (UCB) as additional managing director.

Dilwar H Choudhury has recently been elected chairman of the audit committee of the board of directors of Bank Asia.

State banks can keep on expecting to be coddled despite their continued financial irregularities and irresponsible lending practices, with the government looking to inject Tk 1,500 crore in the upcoming fiscal year to help the lenders meet their capital shortfall.

Romo Rouf Chowdhury has recently been elected vice chairman of Bank Asia. The election took place at a meeting of the bank’s board of directors, says a statement. Chowdhury is one of the sponsor shareholders as well as sponsor directors of Bank Asia. He holds directorship of various sister concerns of Rangs Group and Sea Fishers Group.

Mutual Trust Bank has recently become the third Bangladeshi bank to receive the certificate for complying with the payment card industry data security standard (PCI DSS) set by Visa, MasterCard, Discover Financial Services, JCB International and American Express.

The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) yesterday instructed mobile financial service (MFS) providers to inform it of suspicious transactions with a view to reining in “digital hundi” ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr.

Eastern Bank Limited (EBL) has reappointed its managing director and CEO, Ali Reza Iftekhar, for three years.

The government has all on a sudden stepped up its borrowing from the banking system from this month as its revenue collection fell short of expectations, sending the cash-strapped banks into a state of panic. Until the end of April, the government did not borrow from banks

The High Court has halted the privilege of loan defaulters to secure further loans by giving a 2 per cent down payment until June 23.

Banks and financial institutions who failed to lower their interest rates to 9 per cent will not get government’s annual development programme fund.

Pubali Bank recently saw the unanimous election of Azizul Huq, founder CEO of Islami Bank Bangladesh, Social Investment Bank and Islamic Finance and Investment, as chairman during a board meeting.