Banks get more time to comply with anti-laundering guidelines

The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has extended for eight more months the time for complying with the central bank's guidelines to curb money laundering.

The BFIU issued a circular in this regard on Monday that says the time has been extended to 30 June considering the Covid-19 epidemic. The previous deadline was 1 November 2020.

According to a directive of the BFIU, dated 10 December 2019, banks have to formulate their own manuals, addressing the financial risk of money laundering, terrorist activities and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction under the guise of international trade. They also have to implement the Guidelines for Prevention of Trade-Based Money Laundering.

Money is being smuggled from underdeveloped countries including Bangladesh to various island states known as tax-havens.

According to the latest report of the New York-based research institute Global Financial Integrity, Tk6,06,868 crore was smuggled from Bangladesh between 2005 and 2014.

Money laundering is said to be done mainly through under-invoicing and over-invoicing in import-export.

Meanwhile, a central bank circular on Monday directed banks to provide the necessary information online reading a 2% incentive against remittances legally sent by expatriates.

In that circular by the Foreign Exchange Policy Department, the banks have been directed to provide information on each month by the 10th of the following month.