An Internship Report on the Prospects of SME Loan in Bangladesh: in the Context of BRAC Bank Ltd.

Abstract

BRAC Bank Limited is a scheduled Commercial Bank in Bangladesh. It established in Bangladesh under the Banking Companies Act, 1991 and incorporated as Private Limited Company on May 20, 1999 under the Companies Act, 1994. Its operation started on July 4, 2001 with a vision to be the market leader through to providing all sorts' support to people in term of promoting corporate and small entrepreneurs and individuals all over the Bangladesh. BRAC Bank will be a unique organization in Bangladesh. The bank consist of major divisions named 1) Corporate banking, 2) Retail banking, 3) Treasury, 4) Small & Medium Enterprise (SME). At present the Bank operating its business by 26 Branches. BRAC Bank is the first local commercial banks that proving online banking service to its customers from the very beginning of its starts. BRAC Bank, for the first time among local commercial banks, starts providing loan facilities to small and medium trading, manufacturing and service oriented enterprises all over the country. The Bank has already established its network in different area of the country with assistance of BRAe. As an intern I was assigned to scrutinize the SME loan facility BRAC Bank is trying to develop economic condition of the country. So the bank provides loan facility 3 to 30 lacs taka to that small and medium enterprise that has no easy access to banks/financial institutes. The bank already established 36 Zones and 900 unit offices all over the country. There are 1185 Customer Relation Officers (CRO) providing door-to-door service to clients. Till December 2006, the bank provides loan facilities to 46000 clients which amount is Tk. 1909.64 crore. Average loan size is Tk. 4.16 lacs. The success of SME will largely depends on the selection of a business and man behind the business. BRAC Bank provides this facility to those whose business operation is minimum one year and environment friendly business. It provides no loan facility to tobacco business. The business should be legally registered and must have valid trade license. The entrepreneur should be physically able, preferably between the ages 25 to 50. Asset Operation Department acts as the last line defense of the bank. This division is responsible for the complete disbursement, recovery and closing procedures. The procedures start form the sanction of the SME loan. The respective select potential enterprise, collect confidential information about the enterprise, open clients account is the respective bank where BRAC Bank has its own account, filled up CIB form and send it to the Asset Operation Department. Then the Asset Operation Department starts its activities. The Asset Operation Department sends the CIB form to the Bangladesh Bank to know the CIB status of the applicant. If the report found clean then it send back to the unit office for send proposal for the loan. Then the unit office sanction loan and send it again in Asset Operation Department for disbursement. The Asset Operation Department then prepare a loan file and checks all necessary documents, prepare a list and disburse it. The core competence of the BRAC Bank is to provide the fastest loans to the clients in this country. To retain this competitive advantage BRAC Bank would provide computer and palmtop facilities whether they can give fastest services to clients than other banks. Also to convey the customer focus, BRAC Bank is trying to reduce collateral securities than other banks. It provides more collateral free secured loans to capture the market. Regarding the services by the CRO, almost all clients are satisfied by get these quick facilities from them. Though it is pioneer division of this bank, I tried to give an in-depth analysis for every factor, which relates the SME division from the perspective of customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction.