Bengal Commercial Bank starts its journey

Bengal Commercial Bank Ltd today inaugurated its business operation with an aim to reach out to small and medium entrepreneurs through loans.

"We will give out loans to the underprivileged small and medium enterprises in order to speed up their growth. The bank will also cater loans to the farmers in the interest of the country," said Tarik Morshed, managing director of Bengal Commercial Bank Ltd at the inauguration at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka.

Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal inaugurated the bank.

With the Bengal Commercial Bank starting operations, the number of banks in the country rises to 60.

The central bank gave approval to three new banks in the last two years. The banks are Community Bank Bangladesh, Bengal Commercial Bank and Citizen Bank.

Citizen Bank is yet to start operations.

Speaking on the occasion, Md Jasim Uddin, chairman of the bank, said the banking sector was now going through different types of challenges.

"In some cases, clients have lack of confidence in the banking sector. We will give our all-out efforts to help clients remove their confusion over the banking sector," he said.

The bank will run a centralised banking system from its inception, which will ensure corporate governance in the days to come.

The government imposed an interest rate cap of 9 percent on lending, helping create small and medium entrepreneurs. The bank will give a further boost to this process, he said.

Nazrul Islam Mazumdar, chairman of the Bangladesh Association of Banks, said, "Clients can keep their deposits with the bank without any hesitation."

Read More: 3 new banks get nod amid outcry