A platinum credit card was launched in Bangladesh yesterday through a partnership between Prime Bank and international payment channel Japan Credit Bureau (JCB) Co for the first time.

Banks have got another six months to lower their advance-deposit ratio, a move that is expected to tame the current volatility in the money market.

Default loans at banks went up by a hefty 26.38 percent or Tk 19,608 crore last year, the highest rise in seven years, exposing the precarious condition of the banking sector.

Banks' spending on corporate social responsibility shot up last year, even overshooting the regulatory ceiling -- at a time when they logged in lower profits for higher provisioning needs from the mounting default loans.

Six former officials of Bangladesh Krishi Bank Limited were sent to jail yesterday in connection with a graft case.

The government cannot disclose the Farashuddin-led committee's investigation report on Bangladesh Bank reserve heist so that probe by the Criminal Investigation Department is not “influenced”, Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal told parliament last night.

Sabbir Ahmed has recently been appointed head of retail banking at Standard Chartered Bangladesh.

The entry of the three new banks will weaken the banking sector further by putting additional pressure on supervision, auditing and deposits, said experts yesterday.

Bangladesh taka will come under pressure against the US dollar because of the widening deficit in the balance of payments, said Standard Chartered bank yesterday.

The central bank yesterday gave nod to three new banks -- at a time when the sector is saturated and stressed for rising nonperforming loans and declining corporate governance.

Sheikh Bashirul Islam has recently been promoted to deputy managing director of Exim Bank.

Ahmed Shayan Fazlur Rahman has recently been elected vice chairman of IFIC Bank. Rahman is the executive director of Beximco Group, the bank said in a statement yesterday.

Deposits collected through agent banking rose a whopping 122 percent last year from the previous year whereas the whole banking sector experienced a fall in deposit growth.

Top two mobile phone operators Grameenphone and Robi are set to enter into a partnership with Bank Asia on agent banking – a move that is expected to give huge boost to the new service and deepen financial inclusion.

Most banks have come up with a bundle of packages to make a good business on the occasion of Valentine's Day when people go for a spending spree to celebrate the most romantic day of the year.

A Dhaka court yesterday again asked Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to submit probe report by March 13 in Bangladesh Bank cyber heist case.

US President Donald Trump's choice to lead the World Bank is a firebrand critic of the world's largest anti-poverty lender -- an institution he has called wasteful, corrupt and overly generous to China.

SM Amzad Hossain has been reelected as chairman of South Bangla Agriculture and Commerce (SBAC) Bank Ltd for a three-year term.

Mohammad Feroz Hossain has recently been promoted as additional managing director of Exim Bank. Prior to this promotion, he was the deputy managing director of the bank, Exim Bank said in a statement yesterday.

The central bank will hold a meeting today to amend the Bankruptcy Act, 1997 with the view to handing out exemplary punishment to habitual defaulters.