Dhaka Stock Exchange at a meeting on Tuesday decided that it would not allow any more private sector company to be listed with the bourse under the direct listing regulations.
   ‘The recent bitter experiences regarding the regulations that dismayed the investors and the market as well have prompted the DSE to take such decision,’ the bourse’s president Rakibur Rahman told reporters.
   The existing system misguides the investors, he said.
   ‘If private sector companies want to go public, they have to choose other available price discovery methods like book building and IPO,’ he added.
   DSE sources said the bourse’s decisions would be sent to the Securities and Exchange Commission, the stock market regulator, seeking its approval.
   Since the inception of the direct listing regulations in 2006, eight companies got listed with the bourse under the regulations. The companies are state-owned enterprises-DSECO, Power Grid Company Bangladesh, Titas Gas Distribution and Transmission Company, Jamuna Oil Company and Meghna Petroleum, and private sector companies- ACI Formulations, Shinepukur Ceramics, and Navana CNG.
   The DSE sources said the companies experienced abnormal share-price hike on their debut trading day.
   Earlier, the SEC issued an order to make amendment in direct listing regulations to protect the investors’ interest, the DSE sources said.
   According to the SEC order, the price discovery for the directly listed companies will be done under book-building system.
   As per the SEC order, the existing shareholders shall offer for sale at least 10 per cent of the shareholdings in a company within 30 trading days from the date of commencing normal trading.
   Ten per cent of the 25 per cent shareholdings shall be allocated or distributed to the eligible institutional bidders following the procedures prescribed for determining price in the book building method, and the balance quantity will be available for general investors through the normal trading system of the stock exchanges.
   There shall be a lock-in period of 15 trading days from the debut day for a security issued to the eligible institutional investors in the book building method, the order says.
   The existing shareholders including sponsors and directors shall be restricted from buying the company’s share until complete disposal of the targeted 25 per cent shareholdings, it adds.
   On February 23 in 2006, the SEC approved the direct listing regulations for the bourses to encourage the local and multinational profit-making companies to raise fund from the capital market.
   DSE at the Tuesday’s meeting also decided that from now on mutual funds would require investment of minimum 50 per cent of its fund on portfolios prior to getting listing at the bourse, the meeting sources said.

The percentage of the outstanding loans of the state-owned commercial banks and specialised banks has increased in the last seven years (2001-08) due mainly to political reasons, said official sources.
   The percentage of waiver of interest decreased slightly in the last seven years, from 2.23 per cent in 2001 to 1.64 per cent in 2008.
   ‘The percentage of outstanding loans of the nine state-owned banks and financial institutions increased in the 2008 calendar year compared to 2001,’ said a senior official of the finance ministry.
   He said the report also showed that the percentage of the outstanding loans and waiver of interest increased due to political reasons.
   Sources said the report would be placed at meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council next week.
   Former economic adviser of the Bangladesh Bank and director general of Bangladesh Development Studies, Mustafa K Mujeri, told New Age that the concerned authorities would find out the reasons behind the waiver of the interest on the loans of the SCBs.
   ‘We will have to take all the necessary measures to reduce the number of defaulted loans of the state-run banks,’ he added.
   Earlier, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had asked the finance minister to report to her on the financial irregularities of the state-owned financial institutions, particularly the SCBs, in the last seven years.
   She had asked the finance minister to report to her on the matter while presiding over a meeting of the ECNEC on July 21.
   According to the report, a total of Tk 3,500 crore was spent on loans and waiver of interest in the last seven years ( 2001-2008) .
   The amount of loan and interest of the Sonali Bank stood at Tk 952 crore in 207 loan accounts in the last seven years, of Janata it stood at Tk 624 crore, of Agrani at Tk 661 crore and of Rupali at Tk 183 crore.
   The total outstanding percentage of loans of Tk 1 crore and above in Agrani was 53.36 per cent in 2001 and in 2008 it was 55.38 per cent; of Janata it was 62.26 per cent in 2001 and 68.29 per cent in 2008; of Rupali 64.40 per cent in 2001 and 68.29 per cent in 2008. The total outstanding loans of the Sonali Bank amounted to 45.11 per cent in 2001 and 78.32 per cent in 2008.
   The percentage of the total outstanding loans of the Bangladesh Krishi was 15.25 per cent in 2001 and 16.75 per cent in 2008. The percentages of the outstanding loans of the Bangladesh Shilpa Bank, Bangladesh Shilpa Rin Sangstha, Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank and BASIC Bank were 65.19, 9.60, 89.63 and 48.97 per cent respectively in 2001 and 76.72, 8.49, 81.39 and 56.18 in 2008 respectively. The highest increase in the percentage of outstanding loans in the last seven years was recorded in Janata Bank (6.03 per cent), BASIC bank (8.21 per cent) and Sonali Bank (3.92 per cent).
   Besides, the percentage of total waivers of the interest of loans to Agrani was 2.25 per cent in 2001 and 4.60 per cent in 2008; of Janata 1.26 per cent in 2001 and only 1.15 in 2008; of Rupali 0.76 per cent in 2001 and 0.40 per cent in 2008.
   The percentage of the waivers of interest on loans to Sonali Bank, Bangladesh Krishi Bank, Bangladesh Shilpa Bank, Bangladesh Shilpa Rin Sangstha, Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank and BASIC Bank in 2001 was 1.57, 2.74, 8.35, 2.84, 4.95 and 00.00 per cent respectively and 0.66, 6.19, 4.18, 0.97, 6.04 and 00.00 per cent in 2008.
   The percentage of total waivers of the interest on loans to Janata, Rupali, Sonali, Bangladesh Krishi Bank and Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank has somewhat diminished in the last seven years.
   Earlier, the finance ministry had asked for the lists of loan defaulters and the SCBs and specialised banks had to send them to the finance ministry last month.

The finance minister has said there will be separate laws to govern general banking and Islamic banking in Bangladesh.
    ‘A recent cabinet meeting in principle approved the draft amended insurance law,’ AMA Muhith told reporters on Tuesday after a meeting with the Bangladesh Insurance Association representatives at the Economic Relations Division office.
    ‘The standing committee related to the finance ministry is now looking at it closely and after review, the draft law will be presented in parliament for passage.
    ‘The draft mentions separate laws for governing the two insurance genres—Islamic and general. Similarly, separate and dedicated legal regimes will be formulated and put in place.’
   Muhith said it has not been right to merge Islamic banking and general banking, he said. Both banking systems are facing glitches while being administered under the uniform legal regime.
   Separate laws will be made to get rid of these anomalies, he reiterated.
   Asked if the amended insurance act will be approved in the current parliamentary session, the minister said, ‘The session is a very brief one, so, we’ll have to see what all can be squeezed in.’
   Bangladesh Insurance Association chairman Rafiqul Islam headed the insurers in the meeting.

US fast food giant McDonald’s lost an eight-year trademark battle to prevent local restaurant McCurry from using the ‘Mc’ prefix in a precedent-setting judgment by Malaysia’s highest court.
   The Federal Court ruled Tuesday that McDonald’s could appeal against another court’s verdict that had allowed McCurry to use ‘Mc’ in its name. The owner says McCurry, which serves Indian food, is an abbreviation for Malaysian Chicken Curry.
   The ruling by a three-member panel of the Federal Court ends all legal avenues for McDonald’s to protect its name from what it said was a trademark infringement.
   ‘On the basis of unanimous decision, our view is that’ McDonald’s plea to carry the case forward has no merit, said chief judge Arifin Zakaria. ‘It is unfortunate that we have to dismiss the application with costs,’ he said.
   McDonald’s will have to pay 10,000 ringgit ($2,900) to McCurry, a popular eatery in Jalan Ipoh on the edge of Kuala Lumpur’s downtown. McDonald’s lawyers refused to comment, except to say the company will abide by the judgment.
   McCurry lawyer Sri Devi Nair said the ruling means McDonald’s does not have a monopoly on the prefix ‘Mc,’ and that other restaurants could also use it as long as they distinguish their food from McDonald’s.
   ‘This is a precedent for everyone to follow,’ he said.
   A three-member Appeal Court panel had ruled in favour of McCurry Restaurant in April this year when it overturned a 2006 high court ruling that had upheld McDonald’s contention.
   Arifin said McDonald’s lawyers were unable to point out faults in the Appeal Court judgment, which had said there was no evidence to show that McCurry was passing off McDonald’s business as its own. The Appeals Court also said McDonald’s cannot claim an exclusive right to the ‘Mc’ prefix in the country.
   McDonald’s asked the Federal Court for permission to appeal against that decision but was denied Tuesday.
   ‘We are very much relieved. We hope to expand. This is what we wanted to do from the beginning and we were stalled for eight years,’ said AMSP Suppiah, the owner of McCurry.
   ‘I am so happy ... we have nothing in similarity with them at all. That’s how we have felt all this while,’ said his wife, Kanageswary Suppiah.
   The Appeal Court said McCurry’s signboard has white and gray letters against a red background with a picture of a smiling chicken giving a double thumbs-up, in contrast to McDonald’s red and yellow ‘M’ logo. McCurry also serves only Indian food, not competing with McDonald’s Western menu, the court said.
   McDonald’s began operations in Malaysia in 1982 and has 137 outlets in the Southeast Asian country.

The government has decided to provide alternative cash incentive to two more exportable items to face recession impacts, official sources said.
   The two sector exportable items include - finished leather and plastic bottle.
   The finance ministry will provide 10 per cent cash incentive to the finished leather and 7 per cent cash incentive to the plastic bottle.
   The items will get the incentive during the current 2009-10 financial year.
   The central bank issued a circular to managing directors of the all commercial banks on Wednesday asking them to provide the respective exporters with the incentives.
   Earlier, the government provided the alternative cash incentive to country’s 13 exportable sectors.

Bangladesh has earned Tk 143.45 crore in the fiscal year 2008-2009 through building and exporting eight seaworthy ships—two container vessels and six ferryboats, according to the industries minister.
   Dilip Barua made the statement on Tuesday in parliament while replying to a query by Shah Zikrul Ahmed, MP from Brahmanbarhia-5 constituency.
   The commerce ministry is handling the ship exports, the minister further said.
   Replying to another question raised by Zafrul Islam on the government’s salt policy, Barua said the national salt policy formulated to safeguard the salt farmers’ interests and ensure fair salt prices is awaiting approval.

Warid, a telecom asset of UAE-based Abu Dhabi Group, on Monday announced up to 30 per cent instant bonus for its prepaid subscribers who will recharge their accounts with scratch cards.
   According to the offer effective from Tuesday, Warid prepaid subscribers will receive 30 per cent, 20 per cent and 15 per cent bonus talk-time by recharging their accounts with scratch cards of any denominations from Tk 200 to Tk. 500, Tk 100 and Tk 50 respectively, a news release said.
   Warid prepaid subscribers can also enjoy multiple bonuses by doing multiple recharges during the campaign period. The subscribers can use the bonus talk-time for making calls to other operators.
   Warid subscribers can easily know the balance of the bonus talk-time without any cost by simply pressing *778*1#.
   Apart from this bonus, subscribers will also be able to enjoy instant cash back on everyday usage.

The 17th annual general meeting of Meghna Cement Mills Limited has recently approved 15 per cent cash dividend for its shareholders.
   Company’s director Mahaboob Morshed Hassan presided over the meeting held at Bashundhara Convention Centre in Dhaka, a news release said.
   A good number of shareholders, senior executives, high officials and auditors attended the meeting that received and adopted the directors’ report as well as the audited accounts for the year ended December 31, 2008.

The SEC has issued show cause cum hearing notice to Prime Insurance, its directors, managing director and company secretary for non-compliance with securities related laws in connection with audited financial statements for the year ended on December 31, 2008.
   
   Metro Spinning
   Trading of the shares of the company will be allowed only in the spot market and block/odd lot transactions will also be settled as per spot settlement cycle with cum benefit from 09.09.09 to 13.09.09. Trading of the shares of the company will remain suspended on record date on 14.09.09 for entitlement of Right Share.
   
   Bd Welding Electrodes
   Normal trading of the shares of the company will resume on 09.09.09 following the starting date of book-closure.
   
   Global Insurance Ltd
   Jotsna Parveen, one of the Directors of the company, has further reported that she has completed her sale of 250 shares of the company at prevailing market price through Stock Exchange as announced earlier.
   
   NCC Bank
   Harunur Rashid, one of the directors of the bank, has further reported that he has completed his sale of 50,000 shares of the bank at prevailing market price through Stock Exchange as announced earlier.
   Source: DSE

The United States fared badly in a new assessment of world economies, with the financial crisis accentuating its weakness as one of the most economically unstable nations, the World Economic Forum said Tuesday.
   In contrast with its overall ranking second only to Switzerland in the WEF’s 2009 Global Competitiveness Report, the United States now placed 93rd among the 133 countries in terms of macroeconomic stability.
   ‘The United States has built up large macro-economic imbalances over recent years,’ said the WEF, which hosts the annual Davos pow-wow of business and political leaders.
   ‘Repeated fiscal deficits have led to burgeoning levels of public indebtedness, which are presently being exacerbated by significant stimulus spending,’ it added.
   The widening government budget deficit and low national savings rates helped drag the United States down.
   The White House has projected that its budget deficit would reach 9.05 trillion dollars for the 2010-2019 period.
   But the United States is not only grappling with a state deficit, its citizens also hold too much debt and insufficient savings, according to analysts.
   In the years leading up to the financial crisis, the country’s national savings rate had dropped to almost zero.
   ‘More generally, given that the financial crisis originated in large part in the United States, it is hardly surprising that there has been a weakening of the assessment of its financial market sophistication, dropping from ninth last year to 20th overall this year in that pillar,’ said the WEF.
   The United States also scored badly for the soundness of its banks, in 108th place, just ahead of Venezuela, Serbia and Vietnam.
   Like the United States, the banking industries of Britain, Ireland and Iceland brought up the rear, as their financial centres all suffered in the crisis.
   Iceland’s banks were ranked the fourth most unsound, rivalled only by Zimbabwe, Mongolia and Ukraine, while Britain was the ninth from last and Ireland the 13th worst.
   While major Swiss banks also suffered in the economic crisis, Switzerland managed to come out top overall, overtaking the United States to lead the global competitiveness chart this year.
   Researchers found that Switzerland had remained ‘relatively stable, whereas the United States has seen a weakening across a number of areas.’
   Singapore moved up to third place from fifth a year ago, helped by strong government institutions, infrastructure and a focus on education.
   Nordic countries—Sweden, Finland and Denmark—took the fourth to sixth places, with strong macroeconomic stability and transparent institutions.
   Among the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) emerging giants, China performed best, gaining one place to 29th place. It remained 20 places ahead of India, thanks to its strong fiscal position.
   India had ‘fairly well functioning institutions’ but ranked poorly on health and primary education, macroeconomic stability and infrastructure.
   Brazil was boosted by its growing domestic market and one of the region’s most developed financial centres, but it was weighed down by poor macroeconomic stability and its institutional environment.
   Russia was the only BRIC country to slide down the ranking this year, falling 12 places to 63rd.
   It was hit by structural weaknesses including a lack of government efficiency, judicial independence and property rights, according to the report.

Saudi Arabia’s oil minister said Tuesday that crude markets were ‘in good shape,’ boosting expectations OPEC will use its meeting this week to stress compliance with output quotas instead of cutting production.
   The comments by Saudi Arabia’s Ali Naimi, echoed by Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheik Ahmed Al Abdullah Al Sabah, were the latest indications that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is comfortable with the rebound in crude prices that came about after members announced in December a record 4.2 million barrel per day output cut from September 2008 levels.
   Since that meeting, prices have roughly doubled, and are holding between $68 and $71. Analysts have said they expect the group to hold fast at its current production level, which is just under 25 million barrels per day.
   ‘Everything is in good shape,’ said Naimi, whose country is OPEC’s top producer and widely seen as the group’s kingpin. Crude’s current price ‘is good for everybody: consumers and producers,’ he told reporters in Vienna on Tuesday, as ministers of the 12-member group began to arrive ahead of the Wednesday meeting.
   Saudi Arabia has said a price of about $75 per barrel was fair for the market — a level that would encourage further investment in boosting global supplies while at the same time not straining a world economy struggling to come out from the worst global recession in decades.
   Kuwait’s Al Sabah echoed the same sentiment. In an interview with Kuwait’s official KUNA news agency, Al Sabah said he was ‘comfortable’ with current prices, describing them as ‘acceptable’ for both producers and consumers.
   The producer bloc that accounts for roughly 35 per cent of the world’s oil supply has left output unchanged so far this year as prices have continued to climb. October crude oil futures were up slightly over $69 per barrel in Asia on Tuesday, supported by regional stock markets.
   While prices have bounced back from earlier lows in the low-$30s, global crude inventories are still far higher than the 52 to 54 days of forward cover in the OECD nations that the group would like to see.
   OPEC members have, nevertheless, resisted further cuts. ‘In principle, they always want to have higher prices — but taking into account the weak economic situation, they’re content,’ said Johannes Benigni, chief analyst at Vienna’s JBC Energy.
   Working in their favor is the narrowing of the discount between the first and second month’s light sweet U.S. crude oil futures contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That discount is down to about $0.50 per barrel, a difference that provides buyers with insufficient incentive to buy crude for storage. That discount had been far wider in months past, meaning that refiners would prefer to buy crude and store it instead of waiting and buying oil when they need it.
   Compliance has traditionally been OPEC’s greatest challenge, with cheating by some members undercutting broader efforts to boost prices.
   While the group for the first part of the year was generally successful in adhering to their quotas, it has increasingly been grumbling about overproduction by members looking to cash in on crude’s rebound. Crude revenues are key for most OPEC members, accounting for as much as 90 per cent of government budgets
   Analysts say compliance is down to about 70 per cent group-wide, as some countries like Iran and Venezuela look to tap into crude’s rebound to bring in sorely needed cash amid the global economic downturn.

A recovery of the world economy might occur three months earlier than had been expected, at the beginning of next year, the head of the IMF said on Tuesday.
   But the rebound would be ‘weak,’ the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, told the newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore in an interview.
   ‘For a year we’ve been saying that the recovery might take place in the first half of 2010. Perhaps it will be brought forward by a quarter and that would be good news,’ he said.
   He also foreshadowed an upward revision of the IMF’s outlook for the world economy.
   ‘The World Economic Outlook which we are preparing to publish will be better, but it won’t be very different from the one in July,’ he said in an interview with the paper.
   ‘The progress we have noted can be explained by various factors including the re-building of stocks (company inventories) and economic policy measures to support economies,’ he said, but also observed that the effects ‘will not last long.’
   Strauss-Kahn said that he was now sure that the depths of the financial crisis, and the risk of another key finance house collapsing as Lehman Brothers had done a year ago, are ‘behind us.’
   ‘We are seeing the end of the tunnel but we are still in a crisis,’ he said. This was because ‘the real problem is the social consequences, such as unemployment which is going to continue rising at least for another year.’
   He said that the economic outlook for Italy would improve but that Italy, like other European governments, had to pursue structural reforms.
   This was because an improvement in growth of 0.3 per cent, for example, was ‘better but it doesn’t change much’ and that it would be mainly the consequence of activity in big European economies.

The price of gold rose above $1,000 an ounce in London on Tuesday, reaching the highest level for 18 months, as a weaker dollar fuelled demand for the metal, dealers said.
   Gold hit $1,007.70 an ounce on the London Bullion Market, the highest level since March 2008 when the metal had hit a record high of $1,032.70.
   Gold last broke through 1,000 dollars in February before falling back.
   The yellow metal rose on Tuesday as a falling dollar made the commodity cheaper for buyers holding rival currencies, pushing up demand.
   Gold has also won support in recent months from investors seeking a safe-haven amid the global economic downturn and owing to the risk of higher inflation.

Barclays bank has been fined 2.45 million pounds for ‘serious weaknesses’ in systems and controls that led to inaccurate reporting of transactions, Britain’s financial watchdog said on Tuesday.
   The Financial Services Authority said it had fined Barclays the equivalent of 2.8 million euros or $4.1 million ‘for failing to provide accurate transaction reports to the FSA and for serious weaknesses in systems and controls in relation to transaction reporting.’
   FSA director of markets, Alexander Justham, said in a statement the penalty was ‘significantly higher than previous penalties imposed for transaction reporting errors.’

In an effort to enhance the use of birth control methods among poor in the society, Bank Asia has donated contraceptive devices worth about Tk 15 lakh to Marie Stopes clinic.
   Bank Asia president and managing director Erfanuddin Ahmed handed over ‘Intra Uterine Devices Copper T380 A’ to managing director In-charge of the Marie Stopes Masrurul Islam at a simple ceremony at Marie Stopes’ head office in Dhaka on Monday, said a news release on Tuesday.
   Addressing the function, Erfanuddin Ahmed reiterated the bank’s commitment to work for the betterment of society as a part of its corporate social responsibility.

Brokerage house of Shahjalal Islami Bank Limited ‘Capital Market Services Division’ opened its Agrabad Unit in the Chittagong city on Monday.
   Chittagong Stock Exchange president Nasiruddin Ahmed Chowdhury inaugurated the unit as chief guest, a news release said.
   Among others, chairman of the board of directors of SJIBL Md Towhidur Rahman, funding chairman Sajjatuz Jumma, vice-chairman Md Sanaullah Shahid, directors Akkasuddin Mollah, Anwer Hossain Khan. Mohammad Solaiman, Mohammed Hasan, deputy managing director Md Abdul Jabbar Chowdhury, company secretary Emran Hossain and a good number of clients and well-wishers were present in the ceremony.

Standard Chartered Bank has been named the ‘Best Foreign Commercial Bank in Bangladesh 2009’ by FianaceAsia, a leading financial publication in the region, a news release said.
   The bank received the prestigious award as part of FinanceAsia 2009 Country Awards for Achievement. This year the bank also received the same award for India, the release said.
   Standard Chartered Bank Bangladesh chief executive officer Osman Morad received the award at a ceremony in Hong Kong recently.