BRAC, the world’s largest national NGO, working with the twin objectives of poverty alleviation and empowerment of the poor, signed an agreement on Thursday at the BRAC Centre with Standard Chartered bank for a BDT 100 crore (US$ 15 million) term loan which is expected to bring positive changes in the quality of life of around 6 lac people.

Although BRAC and Standard Chartered have a long history of partnership this is the first time the two organisations joined together to provide micro-credit access to low-income individuals primarily in rural communities not reached by Bangladesh’s commercial banks. Signing on behalf of BRAC was Mr. S. N. Kairy, Head of Finance & Accounts, and for Standard Chartered Mr. Ahmed A. Shah, Head of Client Relationships. Present at the signing were Mr. Abdul-Muyeed Chowdhury, Executive Director, Mr. Md. Aminul Alam, Deputy Executive Director, and Mr. Shabbir Ahmed Chowdhury, Director Microfinance, on behalf of BRAC. Present from Standard Chartered were Ms. Mizinga Melu, Global Head of Development Organizations, and Ranjan Ghosh, Regional Head, Financial Institutions, among others.

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