Chinese billionaire Jack Ma, founder of ecommerce giant Aibaba, is going to step down as president of the elite business school he founded after having been caught in a Beijing clampdown on tech titans, the Financial Times reported Monday.

HSBC Bangladesh has stepped up its efforts to support customers to run operations amidst the coronavirus pandemic and connect them with global opportunities using its unrivalled geographical footprint, its top executive said.

The VAT Audit, Intelligence and Investigation Directorate has formed four teams mainly to bring under the associated law’s purview eligible business organisations, including shopping malls, factories and service providers, which were not paying their dues.

The Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission (BSEC) yesterday formed a four-member committee to investigate the recent rumours over sharing stock price predictions and undisclosed information about listed companies on social media platforms.

DataBird, a Bangladeshi company having products across online travel, news, keyboard, eReader and lifestyle mobile applications, recently stated to have raised $3 million in foreign funding to build a messaging app resembling Facebook’s messenger, WhatsApp and China’s WeChat.

Mobile phone subscribers are still being flooded with promotional and commercial messages even a month after they opted to block them, which highlighted that the regulator’s directive to the carriers to stop the nuisance is not working.

Inflation went up for the third consecutive month in April owing to the rise in the prices of major food items such as rice, wheat, lentil, and sugar.

Walton Hi-Tech Industries yesterday made public the good news of its surging profits and plans to strengthen its footprint abroad, leading to a three per cent rise of its stocks.

The amusement park industry is on the brink of collapse as owners are struggling to pay salaries, bank loans and hefty maintenance costs amid an ongoing closure that began in April due to the recent resurgence of Covid-19.

Women entrepreneurs may receive a relief in tax payment on their incomes from businesses in the coming fiscal year, said an official of the finance ministry.

The Bangladesh-US economic relations have largely remained unutilised 50 years past independence, exemplified by bilateral trade which is too poor when compared with that gained by some competitors, businesses said yesterday.

Farmers in Bangladesh have already harvested 90 per cent of the Boro paddy in the current season, dispelling worries that the impending cyclonic storm could have a major effect on the production of the biggest crop and hurt food security, the agriculture ministry said.

Banks are aggressively installing cash recycling machines (CRMs) to provide faster deposit and cash withdrawal services to clients, a move that is helping customers cut reliance on branches and giving them more freedom to carry out banking.

The special tax treatment was given in different regimes since independence. An undisclosed income of about Tk 30,824 crore was disclosed so far, and an amount of about Tk 3,900 crore was collected as tax.

Business leaders and trade bodies in Barishal have urged the government to ensure adequate support for them in the upcoming national budget such that they can survive the Covid-19 fallouts.

The central bank yesterday extended banking hours in line with the easing of coronavirus-linked lockdown rules, giving more time to customers to carry out financial transactions.

Three private banks posted higher earnings for the January-March quarter compared to the same period a year ago with NRB Commercial Bank registering the highest growth in profits.

Edible oil manufacturers have reinstated a hike of around 2 per cent to take the price per litre to Tk 144, making availing daily essentials even more difficult for pandemic-hit people.

Bangladesh-US economic relation has largely remained unutilised although after 50th anniversary of independence of the Asian country as Bangladesh’s bilateral trade with the US is too poor compared to that of its competitive countries, experts said today.

Bangladesh Bank today extended the banking hour by half an hour and decided to keep banks open from 10am to 2.30pm from tomorrow until May 30.