Banking Tips

Tahia Khalil, Director & Head of Wholesale Bank Operational Risk, Wholesale Bank, Standard Chartered Bank

The importance of an introduction while opening an account.
The importance of an introduction while opening an account is manifold. An introduction gives the bank an added comfort while opening an account for a prospective customer. The practice is that an existing customer who has been banking for at least 6 months with that bank will introduce the prospective customer as a suitable person to be provided with normal banking services. An introduction also serves as a confirmation of the prospective client's integrity and details as described in the account opening form.

Are account opening procedures different in respective banks?
The account opening procedures are not usually different among different banks although the Account Opening Forms (AOFs) are designed differently. Therefore, the need for information required in the AOF will vary.

Why is it not possible to open customer accounts with three or more titles/names?
Banks will usually avoid opening such accounts to avoid complications. Banks do not prefer more than two operators in an account because payment of settlement could lead to further problems.

What are Demand Drafts, Telegraphic Transfers and Pay Orders?
All of these are ways to transfer funds. The DD is a negotiable instrument, while the PO and TT are not. Customers can use any of these three for a transfer of funds within cities, between cities, and countries. Telegraphic transfers are carried out electronically, hence they are very fast and safe. Nonetheless, payment is ensured by all the three modes of payment.

What is a letter of authority?
A letter of authority is a written instruction given by a customer to the Bank authorising an individual to operate his/her account. The specified authorities mentioned in the authority letter are performed by the authorised person and is binding on the account holder. The authorised individual does not become the account holder, hence does not enjoy the facilities rendered to an account holder. The authority comes to an end immediately after the demise of the account holder or on the expiry of the authority letter. And the authorised individual is also not the nominee of the funds left by the deceased in the account.

Under what circumstance can the bank pay cheques signed by an authorised person?
An authorised person (AP) enjoys the privilege of operating an account within the specified authorities as long as the account holder is alive. Under this arrangement, the AP is allowed to transact in the account. The moment the bank is notified of the account holder's demise the authority to operate is terminated. So, if a cheque is presented by the AP after the account holder's demise and the bank knows about the death, the cheque will not be paid by the bank.

What is a sole proprietorship account?
A sole proprietorship account is usually opened by an individual who owns a business independently. This account is a current account operated singly by the owner or he/she can authorise an agent to operate on the account. The banks usually ask the prospective customer to provide a declaration form assuming full liabilities of the company.

What is a Power of Attorney?
A Power Of Attorney (POA) is a document usually executed under seal, which authorises one person (called the attorney) to act on behalf of another person (called the donor, or principal or grantor). A POA is generally of two kinds-special and general. A special POA is a special power given for a specific purpose while a general POA usually confers to extensive powers upon the grantee. Both types are executed under seal, thus enabling the attorney to execute a deed on behalf of the donor.

What is a partnership account?
Several individuals who form a partnership business can open a partnership account. Therefore, in a partnership business there are two or more joint owners who may do business under their family names or by using a fictitious trade name in which case the partnership's names would not consist of the true surnames of all the partners. This account is usually a current account. Registered Partnership accounts are more acceptable to banks.

What regulations are set out in the Partnership Act?
According to the Partnership Act, each partner is considered to be an authorised agent for the partnership in conducting business transactions so that all actions of a partner on behalf of the partnership including the opening of a bank account are binding on his fellow partners.

Dr. Firdous Quader Minu, M.B.B.S, D.L.O ENT, Head-Neck & Cosmetic Surgeon Consultant, Cosmetic Surgery Centre

I am a 35-year-old man. I have put on some weight in the last year. I have been able to loose some weight but I have a double chin which is not going away. Can anything be done? I think I will look better without it.

You are right, getting rid of a double chin does make a person look better. This can be easily done by liposuction of this particular area. This is be done either by local or general anaesthesia. A small incision is done but usually there is no scar left. You'll have to wear a chin band for a couple of weeks. The result is usually very satisfying.

I am a 26-year-old and very stressed because I am becoming bald. In fact I am bald on the top part of my head. I think it runs in my family, as my father is also bald. My baldness makes me look older. I would like to know about hair transplant.

Hair transplant is a permanent way of solving your problem. It is a procedure in which hair follicles (hair roots) are transplanted into the bald parts of your head. Hair will start growing from these follicles just like your own natural hair, as these are your own hairs. A strip of hair is taken from the back of your head and cut into thin slivers and from these the hair follicles are cut out. All of this is done under magnification. Then these are transplanted. The whole procedure takes 6 to 7 hours and is done under local anaesthesia. The new hair starts growing within 4 to 6 months and you can cut and style it according to your wish. This procedure is known as follicle transplant and is the latest technique done nowadays.

I have a problem related to my throat. I have several bouts of sore throat and have difficulty swallowing and suffer from this all year round. It would be great if you could give me some advice.

From what you wrote it sounds like you are suffering from chronic tonsillitis. This will probably keep bothering you and you'll have to take oral antibiotics and antihistamines or you can get a tonsillectomy operation done. This will solve your problem permanently.

You can produce excellent window cleaning results with far less soap than you'd expect. In fact, pure water streaks are far less visible when they dry than streaks from a soapier solution. So, if you leave any water behind on a window after squeegee-ing, it will look better using less soap. This is especially true when cleaning tinted or mirrored glass.

Under A Different Sky

By Iffat Nawaz

To see it the way it is

I never use to see it the way it is. I always overanalysed, misunderstood, or understood more than I needed to. I just never saw it, the way it is.

Two years ago I wrote a piece on July 4th: about the fireworks, about DC celebrating USA's Independence Day. I remember it being quite negative. I think I had concluded something in the line of how disappointing the fireworks were; what a farce this whole celebration was and so forth. The whole piece was drenched in annoyance and bitterness, expecting the world and getting only Somalia.

To keep true to my declaration of two years ago, last year I didn't even take part in anything that comes close to the Independence Day celebration. I went home to my Mother, had bhaat and daal and rested all day watching mindless Hindi movies, and hopped back on a train while fireworks were going off on the sky. I didn't pay much attention to them. They are all the same every year, always; I knew better.

But time always mends my heart. And I forget things, the depth of it, unless it really hurt or felt good. And disappointments always deserve second chances. So I wanted this 4th to be more happening than the last few…

This year, 4th of July fell in the middle of the week- a Wednesday, and a day off. And I wanted to take advantage of the break in the middle of the week. For some reason, a day off in the middle of the week always deserves more attention than a day off attached to the weekend. I ended up gathering a bunch of enthusiastic friends who wanted to do something different. And we settled for taking kayaks out in the river; kayaking to the point where the fire works go off, right on top of the Washington monument and the Abraham Lincoln memorial; to the point where fireworks seem to dissolve into water. I wanted to be in that water, right there, although I don't love fireworks, I do love the water.

America is on July 4th what Bangladesh is on Eid. People hopping from friends' to relatives', from one barbeque party to the next, and I ended up doing the same. And by the time I reached the kayaks at 7 at night, I was well fed and taken care of. So my day was already a good one, 4th or not.

On the water I took a nap, a short nap looking at the still lit sky, the setting sun. We kayaked around Roosevelt Island. We saw the lands around us filled with people, where I usually would be. Growing up, visiting USA during the summers, my Father always took us to see the fireworks. With his camera he would capture each piece going off making art on the sky. I miss those days. Not the fireworks but just the feeling of July, my father with his camera.

As more daughters held their fathers' hands on the lands around us we floated in the water waiting for the fireworks. And it started, glowing;bursting in the sky; reflecting twice on the water; my water, my kayak; all over my body. It reflected, and it wasn't beautiful, it was perfect. It was the way I should have always seen it, but I didn't, because I didn't want to.

The whole thing lasted only fifteen minutes, maybe even less. And I didn't want it to be longer because it's not something you want to last forever.And while it went off, the red, white, green flowers, the gold balls that look like kodom phul (my favourite), the blue stars, I realized that maybe to see something the way it is you have to be at the right place. I have been in America for fifteen years during which fireworks have been a part of my every year Fourth of July, whether I like it or not. And for the first time I enjoyed it. Was it the water, the kayak, was it the company, or was it me? But it was…and I saw it for the first time the way it is.