"Those who will not take licences from the MRA will not be allowed continuing micro-credit operations in the future," Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Salehuddin Ahmed, also the chairman of the MRA board of directors, told the reporters after the first meeting of the board yesterday.

The micro-credit operators will also have to include all income and expenditure statements, details of foreign donations and local sources of funds with the applications and also have to pay the licence and annual fees.

The meeting also formed a five-member technical committee for preparing a policy guideline for monitoring micro-credit activities with deputy managing director of Palli Karma Sahayak Foundation (PKSF) as the convener. Two central bank officials and one representative from each of NGO Bureau and law ministry will be included in the committee.

The MRA will look into the interest rates of the different micro-credit organisations after it starts working in full swing, apart from issuing a guideline in this regard, Dr Salehuddin said.

The Micro-credit Regulatory Authority Act 2006 was passed in July, with effect from August 27.

An eight-member board was formed last month with Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank Khondokar Majharul Huq as chief executive officer.

Finance, commerce and social welfare secretaries, director general of NGO Bureau and managing director of PKSF will be ex-officio members of MRA, with Rashidan Islam Rahman, research director of Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) as another member of the board.