PM to inaugurate BGBs Shimanto Bank today
Special Correspondent
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is going to inaugurate Shimanto Bank at the headquarters of the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) in the capital today (Thursday). It will be a special bank for the border force.
The director general of the BGB, Maj. Gen. Aziz Ahmed, said the bank will operate as a commercial bank for the welfare of members of the paramilitary force.
The paid-up capital of Shimanto Bank is Tk. 400 crore. The bank has been set up on the lines of the Trust Bank, another scheduled bank of the Army Welfare Trust.
The BGB chief said the headquarters and principal branch of the bank will be at a commercial building at Pilkhana, named Shimanto Square.
The main objective of the bank is to provide easy-term loans to 54,000
BGB members for better livelihood, housing and pension schemes, as well as for agricultural, marriage and medical purposes. It would also disburse salaries of the personnel of the border force.
The banks profits will be provided to retired BGB members, wounded freedom fighters, and serving BGB personnel and their family members.
Common people can also avail of its banking services, as at other scheduled banks. However, family members of BGB personnel would get priority for jobs at the bank.
On December 20 last year, Dr Atiur Rahman, former governor of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), handed over a letter of intent of the bank to Maj. Gen. Aziz Ahmed on the occasion of BGB Day.
The Bangladesh Army has been operating a scheduled bank, named Trust Bank, since 1999, while Ansar-VDP Unnayan Bank, a specialised bank for members of Bangladeshs Ansar and village defence parties, has been in operation since 1995.
A total of 56 commercial banks are currently operating in the country.
