Members of Bangladesh Bank Basel II Implementation Cell were present at the workshop, which was participated by 21 representatives of 15 local commercial banks and facilitated by top officials and management committee members of Standard Chartered.

Naba Gopal Banik, general manager of Banking Regulation & Policy Department of the central bank, stressed the need for implementing Basel II in Bangladesh by 2009. He also put emphasis on organising more such workshops for the country's financial institutions.

Osman Morad, chief executive officer of Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) Bangladesh, said SCB, being incorporated in UK, needs to implement Basel II by 2008 as per FSA (Financial Services Authority) regulations.

Basel II motivates the banks to focus more on non-traditional financial assets, fee-based products, developing secondary market for debt securities and bonds that will help the banks to manage their balance sheet more efficiently, Morad said.