UCB joins soft loan schemes for leather, frozen food industries

United Commercial Bank PLC (UCB) has signed two separate Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with Bangladesh Bank to participate in two Tk2,000 crore pre-financing schemes aimed at supporting the growth of the leather, leather goods and the export-oriented frozen food industries.

The MoUs were exchanged at a ceremony held at Bangladesh Bank on Monday, read a press release UCB issued on Sunday. Under these schemes, eligible entrepreneurs will be able to access loans at an interest rate of 7%.

Md Ridwanul Hoque, deputy managing director of UCB, exchanged the agreements with Md Jabdul Islam and AKM Saiduzzaman, directors of Bangladesh Bank. The ceremony was attended by Md Anis-ur-Rahman, deputy governor of Bangladesh Bank; Arief Hossain Khan and Nahid Rahman, executive directors of Bangladesh Bank; and Mohammad Selim Chowdhury, head of SME, UCB, along with senior officials from both organisations.

Under the schemes, financing will be available to support environmentally friendly production, enhance export capacity and create employment opportunities in the leather and leather goods industry. For the frozen food industry, loans will support working capital requirements, factory establishment and modernisation, and cold storage construction. Exporters of frozen shrimp, fish, vegetables, paratha and other eligible products will be able to benefit from the financing facilities.

With these two agreements, UCB has entered into a total of 17 agreements under various refinancing and pre-financing schemes of Bangladesh Bank. Through these initiatives, the bank continues to provide low-interest financing to entrepreneurs in the SME, agriculture and other eligible sectors, it said in the press release.