The decision of Bangladesh Bank to follow the expansionary Monetary Policy to support our industry and production process, despite suggestions otherwise, is welcomed by the business community said ICCB President Mahbubur Rahman at the Certificate Award Ceremony for the Certified Documentary Credit Specialists (CDCS) held on August 30 at the DCCI Auditorium, Dhaka. He mentioned that Monetary tightening may be one of the instruments for coping with inflation but not necessarily the only option at the cost of sufferings of people, in particular the rural poor, to achieve the desired growth.

ICCB President appreciated another bold decision of the Bangladesh Bank regarding raising capital base of all banks to Tk. 400 crore. As a result of the decision interest of the depositors would be safeguarded, clients would feel easy in a financial crisis as well as the capital base of the banks would be strengthened.

Dr. Salehuddin Ahmed, Governor Bangladesh Bank distributed certificates as Chief Guest among 10 Bankers who successfully completed the Certified Documentary Credit Specialist (CDCS) Examination which was held on April 10, 2008. It was the first Examination in Dhaka. As many as 12 bankers from two local and two foreign banks appeared at the Examination and 10 passed. They are five from Eastern Bank Ltd., four from Standard Chartered Bank Ltd and one from One Bank Ltd. A total of 1876 candidates worldwide sat for the examination this year achieving a success rate of 70 per cent. The next CDCS Examination will be held on April 16, 2009.

While speaking on the occasion Bangladesh Bank Governor congratulated the new CDCS experts and expressed his happiness as the rate of success of Bangladeshi participants in the CDCS examination is better than the global rate. He urged upon all other banks to encourage their concerned officials to sit for that examination and expected that banks would be interested to the CDCS course on a priority basis.

Governor reiterated his concern on the economy and put importance to diversify our export. He stressed the need for exploring our own markets also.

Prior to that Mr. Mamun Rashid, Chairman of the Banking Committee of ICCB in his address of welcome explained his experience in the banking sector of Africa, Europe and Asian countries and in that context he found participation of Bangladeshi officials in CDCS examination as a very significant. He stated that having 10 CDCS experts Bangladesh would be able to handle international trade issues with confidence. He added that this is a humble beginning and an inspiration for others.

ICCB President added that CDCS is an international standard qualification for documentary credit specialists. It is a professional certification that enables documentary credit practitioners to demonstrate specialized knowledge and application of skills required for competent practice.

ICCB President hoped that the CDCS experts would be able to contribute substantially to provide professionally skilled and improved services to their clients.

He informed that beside the CDCS programme, ICC Bangladesh has just started another important progarmme named ‘IFC-FIT INITIATIVE’ which is an e-learning certification programme for international trade finance personnel working either in banks or in companies involved in export and import trade. The FIT Initiative has been developed by e-Business School of Ireland (eBSI) and ICC Headquarters with the full support and assistance from International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group. So far 57 bankers and other experts have registered for the programme.

Among others ICCB Vice President Latifur Rahman, former DCCI & FBCCI President M. A. Sattar, Barrister Rafique Ul Huq, ICCB Board Members namely, A. S. M. Quasem, Aftab ul Islam, R. Maksud Khan and a number of MD/CEOs and senior officials also attended the certificate Award Ceremony.