Banking Fair to be held on November 24

Tribune Report

A five-day Banking Fair will be held for the first time in the country on November 24.
Bangladesh Bank made the announcement at a press conference held yesterday at its headquarters.
The new concept Banking Fair Bangladesh 2015 is an initiative of Bangladesh Bank.
The fair will provide a platform for participating banks to come closer to the customers with their products.
BB Chief Economist Biru Paksha Paul said such a fair is the first in kind when all banks will participate.
The aim of the fair is to bridge the gap between banks and customers and enhance co-ordination between
banks, he said while addressing the press conference.
The venue is Bangla Academy premises where banks will put up stalls almost in the shape of book fair.
The fair will remain open from 10am to 9pm for five days ending on November 28.
Some 56 stalls of same size will be allocated for banks at the fair while some at random for financial
institutions.
Bangladesh Bank will have a pavilion where different kinds of services that it provides to the customers
will be displayed.
Cultural events will be held from 6:30pm to 8:30pm during the fair.
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The first ever Banking Fair in Bangladesh will kick off on Tuesday with the aim to make the
sector more easily accessible for the people through technology.
Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman will inaugurate the five-day fair at the Bangla Academy in
Dhaka.
The central bank is organising the event which will be attended by 56 local and foreign banks, six
financial institutions and seven financial service provider organisations.
Bangladesh Bank's Chief Economist Biru Paksha Paul at a media call on Monday said the fair's goal
is to help people, especially the younger generation, become more involved in the banking sector
and in financial activities with the help of technological advances.
The fair, which goes until Nov 28, will open every day at 10am and close at 9pm.

Different services including loan and deposit schemes of the banks, Bangladesh Bank's financial
training, Money Museum, Security Printing Corporation (Bangladesh) Ltd (SPCBL); various
publications and commemorative notes and coins will be showcased at the fair.
Debate competitions, seminars, roundtables and workshops will also be held throughout the fair,
Paul said.
He added that these programmes will be attended by the state ministers of finance, agriculture,
planning, commerce, industries, women and children affairs and ICT, along with high-level
government officials, teachers, economists and researchers.

Bangladesh wins int'l award for school banking

BSS

Bangladesh has won the Child and Youth Finance International (CYFI) Country Award 2015 from Asia
and the Pacific region for massive financial inclusion activities, particularly in the area of Bangladesh
Bank's mooted school banking.
Launched in 2010 by the central bank, school banking has emerged as one of the core components of the
financial inclusion programmes in Bangladesh.
Last year, Singapore received the same award from this region. This year India and Fiji were two other
nominated countries for the award, but finally Bangladesh won the crown.
The award was officially handed over by Valerie Georgina Howarth, Baroness Howarth of Breckland, OBE
(Order of the British Empire), a renowned British politician and member of the House of Lords, at the 4th
Annual CYFI Awards Ceremony, held at the House of Lords in London on Thursday. Bangladesh Bank
(BB) Executive Director Md. Abdur Rahim received the award.
"This is another milestone achievement for Bangladesh branding her as a role model for financial
inclusion", Governor Dr Atiur Rahman told BSS Friday over phone.
He added: "I see this award as a reaffirmation of our new approach of developmental central banking,
significantly contributing towards ensuring a broad based, inclusive, and poverty free society led by our
honorable Prime Minister."
CYFI is a Europe based global network of 36 million children and youth across 125 countries
thatworks for enhancing the financial capabilities of children and youth.

While conferring the award, Lady Howarth highly appreciated Bangladesh's success towards embracing
nearly one million school students into the formal financial system with significant deposit size, BB said in
a press release issued on Friday.
She said that despite being a developing country, Bangladesh is a pioneer in financial inclusion; the
innovative multi-stakeholder approach of Bangladesh Bank has made the school banking programme a
huge success.
Under the broader head of financial inclusion, Bangladesh Bank has been promoting rapid expansion of
financial services, particularly for the excluded and underserved, to implement the Prime Minister Sheikh
Hasina's vision of ensuring broad based inclusive economic growth in Bangladesh, BB said in the release.
Under the school banking scheme, students can now open bank accounts with initial deposits of only
Taka 100 with no charges or fees applicable on such accounts. More than 9,00,000 such accounts have
been opened so far with total deposits of around Taka 700 crore.
Working street children have also been brought into the net of formal financial system in 2014 and parents
can now pay the school fees for their children throw mobile financial services.
Earlier, Bangladesh Bank's innovative inclusive financing programmes earned national and global
accolades like by the Banker (a subsidiary of the Financial Times) and Euromoney magazine (a
subsidiary of Euromoney), awarding Dr Atiur Rahman as the 'Best Central Bank Governor of the Year in
Asia'. He also received the International Gusi Peace Prize.
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Bangladesh has won an international award for Bangladesh Banks school banking sceme and
other activities including the financial inclusion of children, leaving India behind.
The Child and Youth Finance International Country Award from Asia and the Pacific region,
given to Bangladesh in 2015, went to Singapore last year.
Bangladeshs award was handed to the central banks Executive Director Md Abdur Rahim
by Child and Youth Finance International (CYFI) in a ceremony at Londons House of Lords
on Thursday evening BdST.
Valerie Georgina Howarth, baroness and a member of the House of the Lords, hosted the
4th Annual CYFI Awards Ceremony.
CYFI, a global network that includes 36 million children and youths across 125 countries,
awards individuals, government authorities, financial institutions as well as civil society
organisations.
Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman, in his immediate reaction, said, This is another
milestone achievement for Bangladesh Bank in the global arena, branding Bangladesh as a
role model for financial inclusion'.
I see this award as a reaffirmation of our new approach of developmental central banking,
significantly contributing towards ensuring a broad based, inclusive, and poverty free
society, he told bdnews24.com .
Students in Bangladesh can open bank accounts with just Tk 100 as deposit and no charges
apply. More than 900,000 accounts by children exist, with total deposits amounting to $90
million.

Stating that Bangladesh is no longer a bottomless basket, the central bank Governor Atiur
Rahman has said that the country has now adequate food and foreign exchange reserves.

He has said the Bangladeshs economy was surging ahead with the growth in many fields including
remittance and food production.
The Bangladesh Bank governor spoke of the countrys economic advancement while speaking at a
programme of Rajshahi Universitys Economics Department Alumni Association on Friday on the
institutions campus.
Remittance has been the mainstay of our economy. Around 9.5 million Bangladeshis working in
over 150 countries are sending home over $15 billion a year, he said.
Rahman said Bangladesh ranks seventh in the world and second in Asia in getting remittance from
expatriates.
Bangladesh had to seek alms just after the independence to feed a population of only 70 million.
The situation has changed. Now 38.5 million tonnes of food is produced a year, he pointed out.
American Secretary of State Henry Alfred Kissinger at that time had described Bangladesh as a
bottomless basket.
Atiur said, Bangladesh is no more a bottomless basket; food and foreign exchange are spilling over
that basket.

Remittance sending system[edit]

Formal system[edit]
Remittance is sent formally through various ways such as demand draft, traveler's check, telegraphic
transfer, postal order, direct transfer, Automatic Teller Machine. etc. [4]

Informal system[edit]
Hundi or money carrier system is prevalent as informal process of remittance sending in most cases.
The most popular reasons behind the preference towards Hundi system is the absence of any
transaction charges, its fast delivery and the opportunity to maintain confidentiality.[4]