BRAC Bank TARA gets special appraisal

BRAC Bank TARA earned special accolade from International Finance Corporation (IFC) and The Financial Times of London for women empowerment and inclusive banking in the country.

The bank’s women banking TARA got the acclamation at 2021 FT/IFC Transformational Business Awards which is deemed globally as “The Oscars of Sustainability”.

This year’s theme of the award was ‘Harnessing Technology and Finance to Boost Environmental and Social Resilience’, the bank said in a statement.

BRAC Bank Managing Director & CEO Selim RF Hussain said, “We are happy to receive this accolade from IFC and Financial Times. BRAC Bank has long been facilitating women empowerment and spearheading financial inclusion in Bangladesh through its comprehensive women banking proposition ‘TARA’. With easy financing facilities, ‘TARA’ is fulfilling entrepreneurial aspirations of thousands of women at the grassroots across the country. This international recognition is another step for us towards becoming the best bank of Bangladesh.”

According to the statement, around 64 per cent of the 81 million adult women in Bangladesh do not have a bank account. To boost female empowerment and enhance financial inclusion, in 2017 BRAC Bank launched TARA, the first women-focused suite of banking services in Bangladesh. It includes savings accounts with a higher-than-average interest rate, current accounts for women entrepreneurs, savings solutions, business and retail loans with preferential rates, discounted processing fees, and dedicated customer services.

Since its launch, BRAC Bank TARA has become the mainstay to thousands of grassroots women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh when it comes to access to finance. With its easy terms, capacity building and networking initiatives, TARA has become synonymous with business endeavour of the enterprising women across the country.

TARA has so far provided Tk 450 crore in financing for female-led SME businesses, credit card services to over 16,000 women. The proposition has more than 115,000 accounts that hold more than Tk 3,896 crore in savings.

As Bangladesh economy continues to grow at a rate faster than its neighbours and creating opportunity for more and more women to venture into business, TARA firmly stands beside them as a partner of progress resulting in overwhelming growth in the past few years.

The 2021 awards also recognise impact investment funds that are helping to scale up the most promising initiatives, and the innovative financial solutions being rolled out to boost female empowerment and women-led businesses in traditionally underserved sectors. IFC has been a strong supporter of TARA, increasing opportunities for women entrepreneurs and transforming lives, it added.