Bangladesh Bank is going to take strict regulations for currency exchange firms to check money laundering, said officials of the central bank.
The central bank is going to make mandatory for money exchange firms to provide the clients with receipts when they will purchase or sell any foreign currency, a BB official told New Age on Monday.
Under the process, a client, who holds any type of foreign currency, will have to show the receipt against his or her currency to the law enforcement agencies, if required, he said.
The foreign currency will be treated as illegal, if the currency holder fails to show the receipt, he said.
Besides, the BB is now creating new software for money exchange firms named ‘money changers monitoring system’ in which the currency exchangers will have to deliver data instantly against their all kinds of transaction, he said.
The BB will introduce the new software by January 2014.
The central bank will also give attention to dollar transaction by showing passport as a significant amount of greenback is also being laundered in this way, he said.
To this end, the BB held a meeting with its senior officials on October 30 at the central bank headquarters asking the departments concerned to complete all required measures in the quickest possible time. BB deputy governor Nazneen Sultana presided over the meeting.
As part of the move, the BB will sit with the money exchange firms this month asking them to take necessary measures in the matter.
The official said that the central bank had earlier given licences to more than 600 firms to operate money exchange across the country, but it had to cancel a huge number of licences in the last few years due to their irregularities.
According to the BB data, 336 money exchange firms are now operating their business in the country, of which 172 are located in the capital.
As per the central bank regulation, a money exchange firm located in the Dhaka city has to transact at
least $5 lakh in a year while other money exchange firms must transact at least $3.50 lakh annually.
The BB official said majority number of money exchange firms usually made transaction more than $5 lakh annually but they recorded little in their books to save the money launderers.
Another BB official said that the central bank would be able to control the price of foreign currency in the curb market when it would implement the new measures.
He said the greenback which enters the country illegally from other countries could be traced easily if the money exchange firms were brought under full control by the BB.
The foreign currency transaction by showing the passport is not transparent now due to absent of a prop
-With New Age input
