NRB Commercial Bank's licence by Feb

Bangladesh Bank has deferred its approval for the licence of the proposed NRB Commercial Bank to its next board meeting on February 3, pending a satisfactory business plan.
The bank's Managing Director Dewan Mujibur Rahman presented a business plan at yesterday's BB board meeting, chaired by the central bank Governor Atiur Rahman.
US expatriate Farashat Ali, chairman of NRB Commercial Bank, was also present.
After the board meeting, BB Deputy Governor Shitangshu Kumar Sur Chowdhury told reporters that the licence might be approved on February 3, after scrutiny of the business plan.
Some other banks' papers are being scrutinised at present and if they are completed by February 3, their licences, too, would be approved at the meeting, he added.
The sponsors of the proposed bank -- 53 expatriate Bangladeshis living in 10 different countries -- have already deposited the Tk 400 crore paid-up capital and fulfilled the other conditions, according to the BB deputy governor.
In the business plan presented yesterday, NRB Commercial Bank mentioned that they will collect the fund for the bank from remittance, foreign currency collection through bonds and deposits and investments by the non-resident Bangladeshis.
Then a BB director asked the MD to provide details of how they would go about collecting the money from the above mentioned sources.
In April last year, proposal for nine banks were approved by the central bank, the sponsors of six of which are local entrepreneurs and three expatriate Bangladeshis.
In October last year, seven banks submitted the letter of intent (LoI) for licences to set up banks, with two seeking more time to submit the LoI.