UNB, Dhaka :
From now on non-banking financial institutions will fix documentation and service charge in a manner that would not create any burden or pressure on their clients.
At present, the NBFIs take 0.5 percent of their loan amount or highest Tk 2 lakh as documentation or service charge from their clients. But for last several months, they have been pursuing to fix the charge on actual cost basis while the Bangladesh Bank was pressing them to reduce the same.
During a meeting with top executives of the NBFIs on Tuesday, Bangladesh Bank finally agreed with their proposal that they could fix the documentation or service charge in a manner so that it would not create any pressure on their clients.
The central bank held the meeting with the NBFIs as part of its move to improve performance of the banking and non-banking financial institutions.
Most of the chief executive officers (CEOs) and top officials of the country’s 29 NBFIs were present in the meeting held at the Bangladesh Bank conference room. The NBFIs are mainly private leasing and financing companies which operate across the country.
Addressing the meeting, Bangladesh Bank governor Dr Atiur Rahman warned the CEOs of the NBFIs about any irregularities or malpractices in their organizations.
“The governor has warned them of the central bank’s zero tolerance with regard to their compliance with the lending guidelines. The CEOs are also warned of any malpractices either by management or by sponsor directors of any NBFI,” deputy governor SK Sur Chowdhury told reporters while briefing on the proceedings of the meeting.
He, however, said the central bank in recent investigations found some irregularities in the NBFIs which were discussed in the meeting.
“We discussed the issues and warned them to refrain from any further irregularities or malpractices like taking loans by directors beyond their permissible limit, and issuing loan without proper documentation,” he said.
Deputy Governor Chowdhury said those already found to be involved in any irregularities or misdeeds will face penalty and punitive action.
He said the meeting discussed about guidelines for sending information to the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) on requisition through central bank’s financial intelligence unit, not directly.
The meeting decided that the NBFIs will annually send feedbacks on their clients about their service to the Bangladesh Bank in place of the existing rule of 6-monthly report, he mentioned.
Responding to a request of the NBFIs, the meeting decided that Bangladesh Bank will inform its decision about allowing their opening of new branches in different areas.
Official sources the central bank convened the meeting of the NBFIs as part of its ongoing move to strengthen its monitoring on the performance of the total banking sector
They said the latest incident of financial scam at the state-owned specialised Basic Bank had prompted the central bank to launch a strong and thorough monitoring of banks and financial institutions.
