ACD Circular No. 01: Contractual Recruitment of Manpower for Agricultural Credit in Banks

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Bangladesh Bank (Central Bank of Bangladesh) Head Office Motijheel, Dhaka-1000 Bangladesh.

Agricultural Credit Department

ACD Circular No.-01 Date: 22 June 2023 08 Asharh 1430

Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer All Scheduled Banks operating in Bangladesh.

Dear Sir,

Regarding contractual recruitment of manpower for agricultural credit in banks.

In the context of supporting the desired agricultural production in the country, increasing credit flow/investment in favor of farmers, alleviating poverty, improving the standard of living of the general public in rural areas, and helping to overcome the negative impact of COVID-19 in the agricultural sector, this matter has been included in the Agricultural and Rural Credit Policy and Program for the fiscal year 2022-2023. Paragraph 5.23 of the aforementioned policy provides guidelines for banks to take necessary measures to recruit the required number of personnel at the branch level to facilitate the distribution, recovery, and proper use monitoring of agricultural credit. It is beneficial for farmers to receive loans at relatively lower interest rates through the bank's own network, and it is easier to maintain the quality of loans through monitoring. Therefore, Paragraph 5.25 of the policy instructs banks to strive to distribute loans through their own network by gradually reducing the linkage with Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) in the field of agricultural credit distribution. In this continuity, a decision has recently been taken to recruit experienced personnel working in NGOs/MFIs into banks on a contractual basis. In this regard, guidelines are issued to take necessary measures to recruit experienced personnel working in NGOs/MFIs as additional staff in the existing manpower structure of the bank on a full-time temporary basis as "Agri Credit Supervisor (Contractual)" through a transparent process under the following conditions:

1. Experience and Suitability: a) The candidate must have a minimum of 3 (three) years of experience working in an NGO/MFI listed/approved by the NGO Affairs Bureau/Microcredit Regulatory Authority. b) The age limit of the candidate should be from 25 to 40 years. c) The minimum educational qualification of the candidate should be a Bachelor's degree. d) The recruiting bank must ensure that the candidate has not been dismissed from any NGO/MFI.

2. Responsibilities: The scope of work of the "Agri Credit Supervisor (Contractual)" shall be solely related to agricultural and rural credit.

3. Remuneration and Benefits: Remuneration and other benefits shall be determined by the respective bank and must be detailed in the contract signed between the bank and the candidate.

4. Term: Matters regarding the term of employment of the "Agri Credit Supervisor (Contractual)", re-employment, or extension of the contract term shall be governed in light of the bank's own policies.

5. Reporting and Other Matters: The recruiting bank must submit updated information on the recruitment of the "Agri Credit Supervisor (Contractual)" to the Monitoring Sub-division of this Department on a quarterly basis (within 7 working days of the end of the relevant quarter) in the prescribed format (Annexure-"A"). With the approval of the competent authority of the bank, necessary measures must be taken to recruit the said personnel through a simplified process directly by the bank's Human Resources Department to facilitate quick service delivery in the agricultural sector. The bank management may cancel the contractual employment of the relevant supervisor for any valid reason by issuing a show-cause notice.

The above guidelines shall come into force immediately.

Yours faithfully,

(Signature) (Md. Abul Kalam Azad) Director (ACD) Phone: 9530138

Annexure: 01 (One) page.

Phone: 88-02-9550448, 9554896, IP: 88-02-55665001-6, Fax: 88-02-9530879, www.bb.org.bd

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Annexure-"A"

Quarterly report regarding the recruitment of "Agri Credit Supervisor (Contractual)" under the policy of Bangladesh Bank (ACD Circular No.-01, Date: 22/06/2023).

Name of the Bank: ... ... Period of the report: ... / ... / ... Date based

Serial Number	Number of "Agri Credit Supervisors (Contractual)" recruited in the last quarter	Total number of "Agri Credit Supervisors (Contractual)" recruited so far	Branch where posted	Remarks
1	2	3	4	5

(Signature)