Bangladesh Bank Housing Refinance Scheme, a popular housing project in the public sector, is likely to get the formal approval for a Tk 200-crore fresh fund as its entire amount of Tk 500 crore has exhausted.
   ‘The government is going to inject Tk 200 crore into the Bangladesh Bank Housing Refinance Scheme to flourish home ownership among the middle-income group and its formal approval might come from tomorrow’s (Sunday’s) board meeting,’ a senior official of the central bank told the news agency wishing not to be named.
   The BB senior official said a proposal earmarking Tk 200 crore for the BBHRS would be placed by the Bangladesh Bank before its Board of Directors Sunday for its approval.
   Earlier, Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman hinted at the government plan to inject Tk 200 crore into the project saying ‘it’s a good project’.
   According to sources, the BB Board of Directors in its meeting on October 28 decided to allocate further fund only after the entire amount of Tk 500 crore is exhausted.
   Against the backdrop of increasing demand for home loan, the central bank launched a Tk 300-crore refinancing scheme for housing loan in fiscal 2007-08 and later it was increased to Tk 500 crore. ‘The entire amount has already exhausted,’ the sources said.
   After its inception in 2007, the borrowers had showed little interest to receive loan under the housing scheme due to its stringent rules and regulations. ‘Later, the central bank relaxed its rules and regulations, expanded its areas close to the Dhaka City Corporation like Uttar Khan and Dakhin Khan for providing loans, creating enthusiasm among the borrowers,’ the official said.
   The people living in six city corporations of the country and the municipal areas of Tongi, Savar, Gazipur and Naryanganj are eligible for such loan facilities.
   Under the refinancing scheme, a borrower having a monthly income up to Tk 50,000 will be entitled to receive loan up to Tk 20 lakh at 9 per cent interest for a period of 20 years with a maximum grace period of one year.
   ‘But the further allocation of Tk 200 crore for the BBHRS is not adequate at a time when demand for home loan is increasing by over 20 per cent each year,’ said a former secretary.
   He said the government should come up with a bigger fund under the scheme as the growth of middle class housing has increased significantly due to availability of BBHRS fund at a reasonable cost.
   The demand for small size flats ranging from 500 sq ft to 1250 sq ft is increasing due to availability of loan at low interest rate to the borrowers by banks and financial institutions under the BBHRS.
   ‘Actually, the people of middle-income group are being benefited with the availability of loan under the BBHRS,’ said a college teacher who has bought a 500 sq ft flat in the Mohammadpur area.
   According to loan disbursement statistics of Delta Brac Housing Finance Corporation Ltd, the borrowers having monthly income ranging from Tk 25,000- Tk 35,000 are the borrowers of flats between 500 sq ft - 1250 sq ft. The total cost of such a flat is Tk 30 lakh each and the loan equity share of a borrower is Tk 10 lakh.

The National Board of Revenue is trying hard to achieve the biggest ever revenue target with its lowest ever manpower.
   ‘The current manpower of NBR is at the lowest level after the 90s although its areas of works have widened a lot and has a target to collect around 5 times higher revenue,’ said an official preferring not to be named.
   He said the export and import of the country has doubled since the 90s while the number of Value Added Taxpayer (VAT) increased 32 times.
   Under customs, excise and VAT wings, there are 107 VAT circles, 27 VAT divisions, seven customs, excise and VAT commissionarates, three customs houses, and one customs and bond commissionarate.
   ‘But, the NBR could not appoint new officials after 1991. The appointment to the inspector post remained stuck up for the last 26 years due to a writ pending in the Supreme Court,’ the official said.
   Other NBR sources said only 3,000 officials and employees of the NBR were now examining 6,50,000 enlisted VAT-paying organisations.
   Another official in the NBR said it was not possible to examine and prepare documents of 1,50,000 organisations each month.
   Besides, he said, there was a provision to examine 20 per cent of the total VAT-enlisted organisation each year. ‘So, the NBR fails to examine all those, except 450 VAT-enlisted organisations,’ the NBR official added.
   Meanwhile, the NBR has sent a proposal to the establishment ministry for the appointment of new staff to gear up its activities.
   According to the proposal, there will be 136 VAT circles, 59 VAT divisions, three customs, excise and VAT commissionarates, three customs houses and two customs and bond commissionarates.

Asset management companies in Bangladesh are going to form a professional association.
   The decision to form an association was taken on Thursday in a meeting of representatives and chief executive officers of asset management companies including from state-owned ICB Asset Management Company Limited and Bangladesh Shilpa Rin Sangstha.
   Prime Asset Management Company Limited convened the meeting in a city hotel.
   The primary objectives of the association will be to develop local mutual fund sector, create public awareness and interest in investing on mutual fund, research, innovate and introduce new and diversified mutual fund options and products and introduce international best practice and standard in the sector.
   It was decided in the meeting to form a convening committee of all willing members with Yawer Sayeed, managing director and chief executive officer of country’s first private asset management company AIMS of Bangladesh Limited, as the chairman and Moin Al Kashem, managing director and chief executive officer of Prime Asset Management Company, as the secretary general.
   The committee has been authorised to propose a suitable logo, slogan and name of the association at the earliest and draft a memorandum and bylaws for registration with the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms.

Citibank, NA Bangladesh has recently been awarded ISO certification by Moody International for providing whole sale banking for institutional clients group.
   Citi’s operations procedure and quality management system were assessed and found compliant with the requirements of the certification, said a news release.
   ‘The certification is a testament to Citi’s commitment to managing quality across the bank and should help us in gaining confidence of our clients on our service delivery standards,’ said Mamun Rashid, managing director and Citi country officer-Bangladesh.

Setabganj Sugar Mills, the only heavy industry of the district, started its operation on Friday with the losses of Tk 88.72 crore.
   A target was set to produce 4,125 tonnes of sugar by crushing 55,000 tonnes of sugarcane during the current season.
   Local Awami League lawmaker Khalid Mahmud Chowdhury as chief guest inaugurated the operation at a simple ceremony.
   Bangladesh Sugar and Food Industries Corporation chairman Ranjit Kumar Biswas and joint-secretary of water resource ministry Parimal Chandra Saha attended the programme as special guests.
   In 2008-09 fiscal, the mill produced 3,515 tonnes of sugar in 45 days from 55,206 tonnes of canes while the target was 7,500 tonnes of sugar from 98,000 tonnes of sugarcane.
   Mill sources said established in 66 years ago on 252 acres of land the mill was shut down in 1974 immediately after the Independence. The mill resumed its operation in 1998 after necessary repairing.
   Sugarcane farmers alleged that the mill incurred losses due to corruption and mismanagement and lack of effective measures as well as proper action plan.
   Managing director of the mill M Al-Amin said the production would continue for the next 30 days.

As merchants look to this weekend and the rest of the Christmas aftermath, they’re counting on droves of gift card-toting customers to return to malls.
   But those numbers may be smaller as the industry braces for what some analysts believe will be a second consecutive holiday season of declines in gift card sales.
   The final word on holiday gift card sales is not out. Mall of America is seeing gift cards flat through this week compared with a year ago. Mall operator Taubman Centers cited lukewarm sales heading into the final week before Christmas, but saw a rebound in recent days as threadbare shelves have left last-minute shoppers no other choice.
   Overall, the recession has stolen gift cards’s steam. Reduced consumer spending has extended to gift cards, but frugal shoppers are also turning to buying discounted gifts so they can stretch their budgets. Also troubling is that recipients will likely be stingy when they redeem them, focusing only on deeply discounted items, as they did last year.
   That poses challenges for the critical week after Christmas and for 2010 as consumers typically spend more than the card’s value. Gift card sales also are a key way for stores to drive traffic in the first quarter, traditionally a quiet time for the industry.
   This holiday season, merchants were pulling out all the stops to put them in the hands of consumers. Catalog retailer LL Bean, for example, offered a free $10 gift card with purchases of $25 or more; last year, shoppers had to spend $50.
   But Cindee Weiss, 41, who works in magazine publishing, hasn’t bitten. In Christmas seasons past, she would spend a total of $100 on gift cards at Gap or Anthropologie for four friends, but this year, she’s baking cookies and brownies for them.
   ‘In this economy, I have to be a little more aware,’ said the Manhattan resident, citing an uncertain job market. She also noted that in tough times, she wanted to do something personal.
   C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America’s Research Group, predicts another holiday season of weak gift card sales would be ‘devastating for retailers.’
   Another problem is that more shoppers are giving cash this season, because they couldn’t get to the stores or they also want to be even more practical, Beemer said. Typically, about 75 per cent of those dollars don’t go to stores, but toward paying bills or to restaurants, he said.
   ‘Gift cards’ popularity hasn’t died, but the recession has changed the way that people give gifts,’ said Craig R Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners, a retail consultancy.
   In fact, according to a consumer survey conducted for the National Retail Federation, gift cards still remain the most requested holiday item, but several industry surveys have found that the average person plans to spend less on them than last year.
   Best Buy reported that gift card sales rose 40 per cent in November, following a big drop last year as consumers cut their spending as the financial crisis escalated.
   But overall, Brian Riley, research director at TowerGroup, a research company, remains bearish on the category, though he believes business will rebound when the economy picks up again.
   Riley expects overall gift card sales will fall 4.4 per cent this year to $87 billion from $91 billion — with a 3 per cent increase in general purpose card sales and a 7 per cent decline in store card spending. That follows a bigger 9 per cent drop in 2008.
   Michael P Niemira, chief economist at the International Council of Shopping Centres, says he’s not sure how fast shoppers will redeem gift cards because there won’t be mounds of holiday leftovers as stores slashed inventories.
   Many savvy retailers are making sure they have fresh merchandise when shoppers return Saturday. Stores also say they’re aiming to capitalize on a quirk of the calendar — a full weekend after Christmas.
   Kathleen Waugh, spokeswoman at Toys R Us, noted that the toy merchant shipped more new merchandise this week compared to the same time last year to take advantage. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is extending holiday deals such as a selection of top Blu-ray movies for under $20. It’s also offering a $50 gift card with an Xbox 360 purchase.
   ‘Shoppers expect to find new deals after Christmas, but we wanted to make this weekend especially exciting,’ said company spokeswoman Melissa O’Brien.

Thousands of Australians queued overnight to be first through the doors at annual post-Christmas sales Saturday, with retailers predicting almost 15 billion Australian dollars ($13.24b) would be spent.
   Hardcore bargain hunters began gathering from midnight outside the nation’s major department stores to ensure their spot at the head of the queue for traditional Boxing Day discounts.
   Consumer confidence has improved from last year, when the country was feeling the effects of the global financial crisis, and the Australian National Retailers’ Association said it was cautiously optimistic.
   ‘We’ve had a fabulous healthy start to Boxing Day sales which is after all the biggest shopping day of the year,’ said ANRA chief Margy Osmond.
   ‘Thirty per cent of annual revenue comes from the Christmas/New Year period and with an estimated 14.7 billion dollars to be spent nationally in the sales it’s a good start to the New Year for retailers.’
   The figure is more than double last year’s forecast of 6.3 billion dollars, when shoppers were armed with 10.4 billion dollars in government stimulus cash aimed at cushioning the economy from the global slump.
   ‘This year, Australians are spending their own money at the sales, and while there is higher confidence, there?s still a reluctance to spend big,’ Osmond said.
   Shoppers were expected to part with an average 250 dollars each, ANRA said, with clothing, electronics, televisions and cookware the most sought-after items.
   Australia was the only major Western nation to avoid a recession during the global slump, posting world-beating growth on the back of government stimulus worth more than 70 billion dollars and a strong performance from its major Asian trading partners.

7 UP, a brand in the PepsiCo portfolio, has recently been awarded ‘top soft drink in Bangladesh’ award in the beverage category by Bangladesh Brand Forum.
   PepsiCo and Transcom Beverages with focus on brand 7 UP have managed to help 7 UP attain and sustain dominance in Bangladesh market, said a news release.
   Transcom Beverages chief executive officer GQ Chowdhury, PepsiCo International country manager Tejinder Khurana, Transcom Beverages general manager Khurshid Irfan Chowdhury, and Transcom Beverages market development manager Arif Hossain, were present at the award giving ceremony held in Dhaka.

A high-powered team of the Drug Administration Authority of Vietnam led by Chu Dang Trung visited the state-of-the-art plant of Pacific Pharmaceuticals Ltd on Friday.
   During the visit they were ‘very satisfied’ to observe the facilities and production and quality control processes followed by the company and expressed their deep desire to import different life saving drugs to Vietnam from Pacific, said a news release.
   Pacific Pharma managing director KR Chowdhury, Khondaker Sagir Ahmed, Nurul Islam, Akib Hossain of Drug Administration Authority of Bangladesh were present along with the team.

Emirates has offered exceptional value for money Dubai Shopping Festival packages this year.
   With prices starting from as little as $47 per person per night sharing a twin room on a three nights package, these exceptional value for money packages must begin and end within the validity of the offer, ie, January 28 to February 28, 2010, both days inclusive, said a news release.
   Guests can stay three nights for the price of two nights on meal plan booked and in multiples, ie, six nights for the price of four and nine nights for the price of six etc.
   The DSF has over the years grown phenomenally to become the biggest shopping extravaganza in the world, and DSF 2010 will be even bigger and better than ever before, the release said.

Eurostar rejected Saturday claims it breached safety rules when evacuating passengers from cross-Channel trains that broke down last weekend, as a row erupted with Eurotunnel over the controversy.
   Eurotunnel on Friday accused Eurostar staff of failing to follow safety rules when removing people from the high-speed trains that broke down in the tunnel between Britain and France, sparking passenger confusion and anger.
   But Eurostar hit back Saturday, saying passenger safety was not compromised ‘at any time,’ adding that an independent review into the December 18 incident would ‘establish the truth once and for all.’
   ‘Whilst the circumstances in the trains delayed in the tunnel were obviously uncomfortable and distressing, passengers’ safety was not compromised at any time,’ it said in a statement.
   ‘We are concerned that Eurotunnel has misunderstood the nature of the independent review which has the backing of both the British and French governments ... and will establish the truth once and for all,’ it said.
   ‘In our view they should allow the panel of experts to get on with the review and let the facts speak for themselves.’
   Eurotunnel, the tunnel operator, on Friday strongly rejected suggestions that it contributed to the chaos when 2,000 passengers were trapped for a night in five trains.
   Some passengers spent 17 hours trapped in the tunnel when their trains broke down, due to short circuits caused by snow filtering into the engine compartments and melting once the trains entered the tunnel.

The head of Russian gas giant Gazprom said Friday that Ukraine had cut back on purchases of Russian gas since mid-December and appeared to be facing serious cash problems.
   ‘Ukraine is experiencing serious problems with payment,’ Alexei Miller said on Russia’s Vesti channel in comments carried by the Ria-Novosti news agency.
   Ukraine has until January 11 to pay for gas, according to Gazprom, which has cut off supplies to the country over unpaid bills repeatedly in the past.
   ‘We are hearing and seeing that Ukraine is experiencing very, very serious problems in paying for supplies of Russian gas for December,’ Miller said.
   ‘We estimate the situation with the payment for the December supplies of the Russian gas as very serious,’ Miller added.
   Gazprom spokesman Sergei Kupriyanov, speaking to the AFP, said Ukraine would find it hard to cover its next gas bill after the International Monetary Fund turned down its request for a new loan tranche of 3.8 billion dollars.
   Asked what will happen if Ukraine fails to meet the January 11 deadline, Kupriyanov said Gazprom would act ‘in accordance with the contract,’ a phrase the company has used in the past when turning off supplies.
   ‘At the current moment there are no objective reasons for a new crisis,’ Kupriyanov added.
   Ukraine’s energy company Naftogaz declined immediate comment.
   In January, a pricing dispute between the two countries resulted in Russian gas being cut to much of Europe for two weeks as winter temperatures plunged.
   Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has repeatedly said that Russia will cut gas supplies to Ukraine again if the struggling ex-Soviet nation fails to pay for its energy supplies.
   If Gazprom acts on its warning, the cuts would come amid intense campaigning for Ukraine’s presidential election on January 17.
   Last month, Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Yulia Tymoshenko vowed at a meeting in the Ukrainian resort town of Yalta that there would be no repeat of the gas crisis in 2010.
   Ukraine has been hard hit by the global economic crisis which triggered a massive slump in its export-dependent heavy industrial sector.

South Korean president Lee Myung-bak visited the United Arab Emirates on Saturday in a push to win one of the world’s biggest nuclear power plant contracts.
   The UAE is expected to award the contract estimated to be worth $40 billion to build several nuclear reactors ‘possibly early next week,’ industry sources have said.
   A South Korean consortium of Korea Electric Power Corp, Hyundai Engineering and Construction, Samsung C&T Corp, and Doosan Heavy Industries is in the running to win the largest-ever energy deal of the Middle East.
   Other bidders include a consortium of General Electric Co and Westinghouse Electric, a subsidiary of Toshiba Corp, and a French consortium led by EDF and GDF Suez and including Areva and oil group Total.
   Lee is scheduled to hold a summit meeting with UAE president Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan during his two-day visit, the South Korean presidential Blue House said in a statement.
   ‘It remains unclear whether South Korea will win the final contract to build nuclear power plants and President Lee’s visit to the UAE is part of summit diplomacy to win the final ticket in the bidding,’ Lee’s office said.
   The French consortium was initially seen as a front-runner for the deal but it recently appeared to be losing ground to the Korean. On the Korea Exchange earlier this week, shares of Korea Power Engineering and Doosan Heavy Industries rallied on expectations for the deal, analysts said.
   IBK Securities analyst Yoon Jin-il said the contract is expected to be split in three stages with the initial order to be worth about $5 billion, but the first-phase winner is likely to take home the remaining two.
   Work is expected to begin in 2012, UAE state news agency WAM said. The UAE is the world’s third-largest oil exporter, but it is planning to build a number of nuclear reactors to meet an expected need for an additional 40,000 megawatts of power.
   South Korea’s commerce and energy ministry said on Monday that it would focus on the nuclear power sector in 2010 and step up work on a plan to develop nuclear reactors with indigenous technology, as it outlined next year’s policy objectives.

The key decision for global markets in 2010 will very likely not be made in Washington but Beijing, where emerging inflation and a property bubble may push China to begin reining in expansionary policies earlier than will suit the developed world.
   After returning to a breakneck pace of growth with amazing speed, there are already signs that China is weighing steps to curtail the bank lending that has been a huge source of stimulus, helping to drive property and other asset prices sharply higher.
   ‘We emphasise the role of the reserve-requirement ratio, although the ratio was internationally seen as useless for years and it was thought central banks could abandon the tool,’ Chinese central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said at a Beijing conference on Tuesday.
   ‘Besides benchmark interest rates, we also put emphasis on managing the gap between deposit and lending rates’, Zhou said.
   Put simply, that implies that China may take steps to limit the amount of money banks are allowed to lend and to drive the margins between what they pay in interest and what they charge higher, both steps which will cool growth and speculation.
   China’s central bank on Wednesday followed up by promising to exercise tighter control over bank lending next year while reaffirming a long-standing pledge to maintain ‘appropriately loose’ monetary policy.
   Even if you don’t own a million dollar apartment investment in Shanghai—kept empty of course because cash flows are for the little people - this could spell trouble.
   Zhou ‘today signaled the end of the global market bounce that has been in progress since the end of last winter,’ Lombard Street Research economist Charles Dumas wrote in a note to clients.
   ‘The only major addition of liquidity in the world economy over the past year has been in China. That is about to be withdrawn. Risk assets look like an unwise place to be in early 2010, especially commodity futures and the government bonds of countries with large deficits and/or debts. For risky investments worldwide, this could mark a turning point from 2009’s massive rally.’
   China’s banks will lend about $1.4 trillion in 2009, roughly double 2008’s allocation. Official estimates put inflation at a tepid 0.6 per cent for the year to November, but this is in contrast to media reports about bulk-buying by Chinese consumers concerned about a rapid rise in the price of staple foods.
   Reflationary efforts in China have almost certainly had a positive impact on global economic conditions, possibly affecting market prices for securities more than fundamental demand. On the broadest measure, money supply in China is growing at an astonishing 30 per cent annual clip, more or less double its usual rate of growth this decade.
   By Lombard Research’s reckoning, China has been doing the heavy lifting. Even with a range of extraordinary policies such as quantitative easing, combined money growth in the United States, euro zone, Japan and Britain is barely positive. But adding in China’s efforts, this rises to a more normal 6 per cent range.
   But China could be cutting back—through loan controls, interest rates and ultimately by allowing the yuan to rise in value—just as other sources of liquidity such as the US quantitative easing program are withdrawn. Perhaps this is all part of the grand plan, and perhaps the rise in asset prices over the past nine months will be confirmed by a self-sustaining recovery even without further growth in stimulus.
   There are at least three other possibilities. First, it may be that tighter policy in China retards a recovery and hurts asset prices. But there is also a chance that China genuinely needs tighter policy but the United States, Europe and Britain do not.
   If so, further signs that China is serious about addressing its nascent property bubble and inflation should be quite nasty news for equities and other risky assets. Finally, there is the possibility that China is the bellwether for inflationary issues that will crop up elsewhere soon, though this seems a long shot.
   Risk assets could get hit if it looks like the Fed’s hand is being forced regardless of what the US central bank does about interest rates and its exit plan. Withdrawing monetary stimulus will hurt, but what might hurt even worse is if the Fed were forced to extend measures to the point at which it starts looking desperate rather than masterful.
   We are operating under a common narrative in markets: that the authorities are both willing and able to do what it takes. This may or may not be true, but it gains tremendous force simply because people subscribe to it.
   China may make this simple narrative quite a bit more complicated.

Japan’s Toyota Motor plans to boost its global production in 2010 by 17 per cent to about 7.5 million units, Japanese media reported Saturday.
   The output target — which does not include Toyota group firms Daihatsu Motor and Hino Motors — is still down about one million units from the peak year of 2007 and matches the level of 2005, the business daily Nikkei said.
   But Toyota may raise its 2010 output further after taking into account the impact of the government’s decision to extend subsidies for purchases of environmentally friendly vehicles by six months to September 2010, the paper said.
   Following the global sales slump due to the financial crisis, Toyota early this year embarked on steep production cuts centred on its major markets — Japan, the United States and Europe.
   But sales in major markets have recovered gradually and with demand picking up in China and other emerging markets, Toyota’s global sales recorded their first year-on-year rise in 15 months in October.

Four years ago, Omar Hamoui was just another ineffectual entrepreneur trying to spruce up his resume in graduate school.
   Now, he’s poised to become Google Inc.’s newest weapon as the company aims to extend its dominance of online advertising from computers to mobile devices.
   Google is buying Hamoui’s expertise in a $750 million acquisition of AdMob, a network for ads on iPhones and similar gadgets. He launched the business while struggling to support his wife and children as a student at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
   Hamoui, 32, changed his life by setting up a system for advertising on mobile devices. Though that sounds simple, it was a breakthrough because Hamoui’s network got around stifling controls that wireless carriers had imposed on the content their customers could see on their phones. The crack that AdMob opened in the carriers’ ‘walled gardens’ made it easier for independent programmers to profit from applications planted on mobile phones.
   ‘It took a lot of guts because (the carriers) were the gatekeepers of the industry,’ says Rich Wong, an AdMob investor and board member who is with Accel Partners. ‘Back then, it was sort of like if you said no to the Godfather. Bad things could happen.’
   More than a year after Hamoui ignited the fuse, Apple Inc. blew up the status quo with the June 2007 introduction of the iPhone — which created a platform for applications chosen by users.
   That has spawned more than 100,000 mobile ‘apps’ for doing everything from bird watching to cooking poultry. The revenue from AdMob’s ad network is one of the main reasons application developers can give the programs away or just charge a few bucks.
   ‘Omar was absolutely the tip of the spear in this mobile media revolution,’ says Jason Spero, general manager of AdMob’s North America operations.
   If Google’s proposed acquisition is approved by the US Federal Trade Commission, Hamoui thinks he and AdMob’s 150 employees will be in an even better position to turn mobile phones into moneymaking magnets.
   Google is banking on it.
   Drawing upon the more than $20 billion in revenue that it generates from Internet ads, Google has been investing aggressively in mobile technology. The Internet search leader has developed a free software system, Android, that runs mobile devices and is experimenting with its own phone, called Nexus One, that could be sold directly to consumers.
   Google believes explosive growth in mobile advertising will justify its spending. For now, the market remains relatively small, with US mobile advertising revenue expected to reach $416 million this year, according to the research firm eMarketer Inc.
   AdMob has delivered nearly 140 billion ads on mobile Web sites and applications since its inception. That has helped AdMob double its revenue this year after tripling it last year. Hamoui won’t be more specific, leaving it to analysts to estimate that AdMob’s revenue this year will range between $45 million and $60 million.

Health insurers get some big presents in the Senate’s health overhaul bill — about 20 million new customers and no competition from a new government plan.
   Taking advantage of those boons might take some time, though.
   The bill imposes hefty new taxes and coverage rules that will pinch insurers by forcing them to cover more sick people without gaining enough healthy, lower-cost customers, industry insiders say. The industry is also worried the bill doesn’t do enough to control health care costs.
   It’s a matter of figuring out how to make those new customers profitable, analysts say.
   ‘There’s opportunity,’ Miller Tabak analyst Les Funtleyder said. ‘Where the rubber meets the road is can you access that opportunity? At least some of them will figure out how to do it.’
   The Senate bill is much more favorable to insurers than a similar bill passed in the House that contains a government-run option for consumers seeking individual insurance, something insurers have fought hard. They worry that a government-run plan that sets rates below market prices would pose unfair competition.
   Though the Senate bill still has to be reconciled with the House bill, most observers believe the government-run plan, often called a ‘public option,’ will disappear because it lacks Senate support.
   Both bills call for the creation of insurance exchanges that help people buy coverage. Insurers likely will lose money on business from those exchanges, said Robert Laszewski, a former insurance executive and president of Health Policy and Strategy Associates, a Virginia-based health care consultant.
   It’s a tradeoff: People without insurance would be required to buy it — in some cases, subsidies will help them pay for it — or face fines if they don’t. Insurers, in turn, would no longer be able to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions such as diabetes or cancer.
   But the proposed fines are too weak and the subsidies too meager to truly motivate people to buy insurance, Laszewski said. This means the people most motivated to buy coverage through these exchanges will be those who already have health problems — who are money losers for insurers.

NCC Bank Limited opened its 64th branch with online facility at Gauripur in Comilla on Thursday.
   Chairman of the bank Yakub Ali inaugurated the branch as chief guest, said a news release.
   Bank’s managing director and chief executive officer Nurul Amin presided over the function.
   Vice-chairman of the bank Md Harunur Rashid, directors Khirul Alam Chaklader, Md Mostafizur Rahman and MA Quasem attended the function as special guests. Deputy managing director of the bank Golam Hafiz Ahmed gave the vote of thanks. Senior officials of the bank, local elites, and businessmen were also present on the occasion.

Trust Bank Limited recently opened its SME service centre at Folpotti at Madhabdi Bazar in Narsingdi. Managing director of the bank M Shah Alam Sarwar inaugurated the centre, said a news release. It is expected that the new service centre will help steer the local businesses. Directors and senior officials of bank were present on the occasion.

Southeast Bank Limited opened its 56th branch at Pragati Sarani in Dhaka on Thursday.
   Chairman of the bank Alamgir Kabir inaugurated the branch, said a news release.
   Bank’s director Rehana Rahman and Syed Shahid Ali, managing director Mahbubul Alam, executive director M Serajul Islam, senior officials, local businessmen and elites were present on the occasion.