09-11-2021

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 2021
8
Al-Arafah Islami Bank Ltd has opened sub-branch at Mawa, Lohajang of Munshigan recently.
Director of the Bank Md. Harun-Ar-Rashid Khan inaugurated the new sub-branch as Chief Guest.
Dhaka South Zonal Head of the Bank Md. Monir Hossain was present as special guest in the occasion.
Among others Prominent businessmen Md. Rashidul Haque Munna, Ataur Rahman, Motahar
Uddin Ahmed, General Secretary of Lohajang Press Club Manik Mia were also present on the occasion.
Lohajang Branch Manager Zakiullah Siddique presided over the ceremony. The program was
conducted by FAVP Md. Mostafa Kamal. Md. Harun-Ar-Rashid Khan said in his speech, Al-Arafah
Islami Bank Ltd. was established not for making profit by doing business but for the welfare of society.
He invited all to have the blessings of Islamic banking services in the new branch. He also said,
Islamic banking system can boost-up the economy of the country.
Photo: Courtesy
Death
Anniversary
43rd Death Anniversary of
Shahid Uddin Eskander
(Kochi), Organizer of
Liberation War, Member of
Constitute Assembly,
President of Noakhali
District Awami League,
Noakhali Pouroshova
Chairman, will be observed
on 10th November 2021.
He was also the Founder
President of Noakhali Press
Club, Founder President of
Noakhali District Chamber
of Commerce & Industries,
Secretary Noakhali District
Sports Association,
Chairman of Noakhali
District Red Cross &
associate with different
organizations.
In this regard different
political, cultural, social,
sports organizations and his
family has arranged Doa
Mahfil at Noakhali after
Zohor prayer.
Top oil producers to assess
output as prices soar
LONDON: Major oil
producers on Thursday are
expected to continue
planned moderate output
increases despite pressure to
further ramp up production
amid soaring prices, reports
BSS.
The 13 members of the
Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC)
and their 10 allies meet from
1300 GMT for their regular
monthly meeting via
videoconference and are
expected to re-confirm their
July decision.
The powerful producers
led by Saudi Arabia and
Russia in the so-called
OPEC+ grouping agreed in
July to modestly step up
production after steeply
slashing it last year as the
pandemic hit global
markets.
"While there is plenty of
pressure on OPEC+ to
increase output more
aggressively, members
continue to resist and
instead seem to prefer to
stick to their plan of easing
cuts by 400,000 barrels per
day per month," ING
analysts said in a note this
week.
With prices for the
benchmark WTI contract
Commerzbank sees
return to profit after
strong third quarter
FRANKFURT - Commerzbank, Germany's second-biggest
lender, said Thursday it expects to return to profit in 2021
after a better-than-expected performance in the third
quarter, reports BSS.
Commerzbank said in a statement that it swung back into
the black in the period from July through September,
booking a bottom-line profit of 403 million euros ($470
million), compared with a net loss of 60 million euros a year
earlier.
"After a strong third quarter, Commerzbank expects a
positive net result for the full year," said chief executive
Manfred Knof.
In 2020, the lender ran up a net loss of 2.9 billion euros.
"We achieved solid revenues while risk provisions
remained at a low level, and we have our costs under
control," generating "tailwind" for the group, said chief
financial officer, Bettina Orlopp. Revenues amounted to just
over 2.0 billion euros, only fractionally lower than in the
same period a year earlier and Commerzbank said it reduced
its overall costs by "around five percent" in the quarter.
The lender had already been projecting a return to the
black this year at the level of operating profit and that figure
increased to 472 million euros in the July-September period
from 168 million a year earlier.
"The outlook for the full year continued to improve in the
third quarter," Commerzbank said.
"Revenues in the full year 2021 will exceed the previous
year's. The bank is targeting operational costs of around 6.5
billion euros."
Commerzbank is currently in the middle of a massive
restructuring programme, including plans to reduce the
workforce from nearly 40,000 at the end of last year to
32,000 by the end of 2024.
The government still holds a stake of around 15 percent in
Commerzbank which it bailed out during the 2008-2009
financial crisis.
rising to $85, the highest
since 2014, US President Joe
Biden appealed on the
sidelines of the G20 summit
in Rome over the weekend
to OPEC to pump more.
"The idea that Russia and
Saudi Arabia and other
major producers are not
going to pump more oil so
people can have gasoline to
get to and from work, for
example, is not right," he
said.
Other oil-consuming
nations, such as India and
Japan, have also called for
more output to lower prices.
Helima Croft of RBC
Capital Markets said she
would not rule out that
Saudi Arabia could
greenlight a rise beyond
400,000 barrels per day
"given the intensity of the
White House pressure and
from other key consuming
countries like India".
OPEC Secretary General
Mohammed Barkindo last
week re-iterated "the need to
remain cautious and
attentive to an ever-evolving
market situation," according
to a statement.
While higher prices
benefit producers in the
form of increased revenuesparticularly
after the lean
period of the coronavirus
pandemic-there are
concerns that they could
stifle the fragile economic
recovery and thus demand
for oil.
There have also been
question marks recently
over the ability of OPEC+
members to drastically boost
output.
Contrary to the normal
trend of OPEC countries
exceeding their production
quotas, in recent months
most member states have
stuck to them or in some
cases even fallen short.
This suggests that the
group may not be able to
rapidly increase production
in the short term despite it
having a current theoretical
reserve of more than four
million bpd in the ground.
Another uncertainty,
OPEC member Iran has
been excluded from the
market due to US sanctions,
which the Islamic republic
hopes to see lifted through
negotiations in Vienna on
scaling back its nuclear
programme.
However, those
negotiations have been
deadlocked since June and
are to resume only at the end
of the month.
Major General Abul
Kalam Mohammad Ziaur
Rahman new Executive
Chairman of BEPZA
Major General Abul Kalam
Mohammad Ziaur Rahman,
ndc, psc has taken over the
charge of the Executive
Chairman of Bangladesh
Export Processing Zones
Authority (BEPZA) recently.
He replaced Major General
Md Nazrul Islam, SPP, ndu,
afwc, psc, G.Before joining
BEPZA, Major General
Ziaur Rahman was General
Officer Commanding (GOC)
of 7 Infantry Division.
Prior to that, he served as
the Defence Adviser of
Bangladesh High
Commission in New Delhi,
India. His Military career
spanned over command,
staff and instructional
appointments. He served as
Logistics Staff Officer and
also as Operations, Planning
& Intelligence Staff Officer at
Brigade, Army Training &
Doctrine Command and
Army Headquarters.
He also served in the
prestigious appointment of
'Directing Staff' at the
Defence Services Command
and Staff College of
Bangladesh and Instructor
at Bangladesh Military
Academy. In his adorned
service life, Major General
Ziaur Rahman also served at
various capacities at
Battalion level. Moreover, he
has served at the UN
mission in Haiti and Sudan.
Toyota lifts annual
profit forecast despite
production cut
TOKYO :Toyota upgraded
its full-year profit forecast
on Thursday after a strong
quarter that saw it weather
production cuts caused by
a chip crunch and supply
chain issues in pandemichit
Southeast Asia, reports
BSS.
The world's top-selling
automaker now projects a
net profit of 2.49 trillion
yen ($21.8 billion) for the
fiscal year to March 2022,
up from an earlier estimate
of 2.3 trillion yen.
But it left its annual sales
forecast unchanged at 30
trillion yen.
"Production volume
declined globally, but our
suppliers, plants and
dealers made great efforts
to supply as many cars as
possible," the Japanese
giant said.
Israel lawmakers
pass first state
budget in 3 years
JERUSALEM : Israeli
lawmakers passed the
country's first state budget
in three years Thursday in a
victory for the ideologically
disparate coalition that
unseated veteran premier
Benjamin Netanyahu in
June, reports BSS.
MPs approved a 609
billion shekel ($194 billion)
spending plan for 2021 and
are to resume debate later in
the day on 573 billion
shekels for next year.
"Celebration day for the
state of Israel," Prime
Minister Naftali Bennett
tweeted after the vote.
"After years of chaos, we
have formed a government,
we have conquered Delta
(variant of the coronavirus)
and now, praise God, we
have passed a budget for
Israel."
The stakes could not have
been higher for Bennett, a
right-wing religious
nationalist whose coalition
of hawks, centrists, leftwingers
and Islamists
controls just 61 of the 120
seats in parliament.
His coalition had until
November 14 to get the
budget approved to prevent
parliament being dissolved,
forcing what would have
been the fifth election in
three years.
Arena of Valor Asian Games Version Named Official
Event at The Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games
Arena of Valor Asian Games
Version was today named an
official esports event at the
2022 Asian Games by the
Olympic Council of Asia
(OCA), The Hangzhou 2022
Asian Games Organizing
Committee and Asian
Electronic Sports Federation
(AESF), a press release said.
For the event, Arena of
Valor developed a custom
version that reduces the
amount of socialization,
commercialization, and nonbattle
systems, in order to
focus on the game's core
competitive features. The
Asian Games Version of the
game features the mostpopular
heroes from
different versions of Arena of
Valor across the globe, so
players from different
regions can play using heroes
they know.
Arena of Valor Team said,
"The competitive spirit that
has made Arena of Valor so
popular around the world is
what makes this such an
honor. And with it, we will
provide comprehensive
support in areas like game
development, event
operations, athlete selection,
training management, and
anti-doping." They added,
"Leveraging our previous
Asian markets struggle to track
Wall St rally, eyes on US jobs
HONG KONG : Asian
markets were mixed Friday
following the previous day's
gains, with eyes on the release
of key US jobs data later in the
day, while investors are also
assessing the outlook for
central bank monetary policy
in the face of surging
inflation, reports BSS.
Equities around the world
enjoyed a healthy run-up
Thursday after the Federal
Reserve finally announced its
plan for tapering the vast
bond-buying programme that
has provided crucial support
since it was put in place at the
start of the pandemic.
The news removed a lot of
uncertainty about officials'
response to a spike in
inflation that is expected to
last a lot longer than
previously thought, and
follows moves in other
countries to step back from
their ultra-easy measures as
the world economy recovers.
However, the Bank of
England's decision Thursday
not to lift rates shocked
traders, who had taken recent
indications from boss Andrew
Bailey that it would do so.
While its board signalled a
rise was still on the cards in
the coming months, it raised
questions about how quickly
the financial leaders would
tighten policy, with forecasts
experiences supporting the
2018 Asian Games, we'll
work closely with the
Olympic Council of Asia
(OCA), The Hangzhou 2022
Asian Games Organizing
Committee, Asian Electronic
Sports Federation and
partners in all regions, to
deliver the thrill of esports to
each and every viewer of the
Asian Games."
Arena of Valor is a trendsetting
competitive battle
mobile game developed by
TiMi Studio Group, a global
game development and
operations team and a
subsidiary of Tencent
for the Fed's own hiking
timeline put back.
Bond yields, which indicate
future pricing for interest
rates, sank after the
announcement and raised
concerns about further
uncertainty, particularly as
inflation remains doggedly
high owing to supply chain
snarls, high commodity prices
and wage growth. That has
fuelled talk of a period of
stagflation when prices surge
but economic growth stalls.
"Rates are a global market,"
Subadra Rajappa, at Societe
Generale, said. "Global
central banks seem to be
pushing back on market
expectations for aggressive
policy action."
The BoE decision also
hammered the pound, which
sank against the dollar, and it
struggled to recover on Friday
sitting below $1.35, having
been at $1.37 beforehand.
Still, Wall Street enjoyed
another record, with tech
firms the main beneficiaries
as they are more susceptible
to higher borrowing costs.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq
both chalked up new highs for
a fifth straight day, though the
Dow dipped. Markets in Paris
and Frankfurt were also at
new peaks.
However, Asian investors
struggled to pick up the
Games. It entered the
Bangladeshi market in
October to a rousing
welcome by the local
users.The game has been
featured in mobile esports
competitions across Asia,
including as a demonstration
event in the 2018 Jakarta-
Palembang Asian Games. In
2020, the game's esports'
participation reached six
million players and 73 billion
views in Mainland China. In
other parts of the world, fans
have streamed over 40
million hours of Arena of
Valor gameplay from the
game's major tournaments,
baton. Tokyo, Shanghai,
Hong Kong and Seoul all fell,
while there were gains in
Sydney, Singapore,
Wellington, Taipei and
Jakarta. Manila jumped more
than one percent as virus
measures were eased in the
Philippine capital.
Oil shot up after OPEC and
other major producers stuck
to their plan to modestly lift
output despite surging
demand and concerns about
supplies.
The move also ignored a
call from US President Joe
Biden and other big energy
consuming nations to open
the taps further.
Friday's gains came after a
recent heavy retreat in prices
following news that Iran
nuclear talks were
progressing and could lead to
the removal of sanctions
barring the sale of Tehran's
crude on world markets.
Still, OANDA's Edward
Moya expects the commodity
to remain buoyed.
"The selloff in WTI crude
won't last long as the oil
market is still in deficit and
whatever response the US has
will likely be temporary relief
and nothing that brings US
production back to the levels
seen under the Trump
administration," he wrote in a
note.
the Arena of Valor World
Cup and Arena of Valor
International
Championship.
Arena of Valor is available
in 16 languages and 173
countries and regions. It was
among the top five in
download charts in 18
countries and regions, and
top 10 in grossing charts in
28 countries and regions. It's
the top mobile game in
several Asian countries and
regions, where mobile is the
predominant platform, and
has a penetration rate of 60%
local population in those
markets.
First Security Islami Bank Limited (FSIBL) organized a daylong workshop on Anti Money
Laundering & Combating Financing of Terrorism titled 'BAMLCO Conference-2021' with the participation
of all Branch Anti Money Laundering Compliance Officers (BAMLCOs) of the bank. Md.
Masud Biswas, Head (Current Charge) of Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) and
Executive Director, Bangladesh Bank inaugurated the workshop as a chief guest. Syed Waseque Md.
Ali, Managing Director of FSIBL delivered his welcome speech and Md. Mustafa Khair, Additional
Managing Director and CAMLCO of FSIBL presided over the workshop. Mohammad Abdur Rab,
Deputy General Manager, BFIU, Md. Rokon-Uz-Zaman, Joint Director, BFIU, Bangladesh Bank conducted
several sessions in the workshop on the topic of prevention of trade & investment based
money laundering and overview on anti-money laundering & combating financing of terrorism.
Among others, Abdul Aziz, Additional Managing Director, Masudur Rahman Shah, Deputy
Managing Director along with high officials were present in the program.
Photo: Courtesy