Money deposited by Bangladeshis in Swiss banks has decreased, with the annual report released by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) on Thursday stating deposits by Bangladeshis in the country’s banks fell from 55 million Swiss francs to around 18 million francs last year.
The SNB in its previous annual report for 2022 noted that the deposits by Bangladeshis in Swiss banks amounted to 871.1 million Swiss francs in 2021, dropping to 55 million francs in 2022.
The latest annual report says Bangladeshis had deposits of Tk234 crore or 17.7 million francs (with each franc equating to Tk132) in Swiss banks as of December 2023.
At the beginning of that year, the deposits amounted to Tk729 crore or 55.2 million francs.
Analysis of the report shows that the deposit rate dropped by approximately 65% over one year.
The SNB report highlighted that in 2021, deposits by Bangladeshis stood at 871 million Swiss francs, but by the end of 2022, this had sharply fallen to just 55 million francs.
That year, Bangladeshis withdrew a staggering Tk10,500 crore from Swiss banks.
The trend of withdrawals continued into 2023, with a total of Tk11,229 crore being withdrawn over the past two years.
The report does not provide any explanation for what Bangladeshis did with such a significant amount of money after withdrawing it.
Economists suggest that money launderers are now transferring funds to alternative destinations such as the United States, Canada, Australia and Malaysia, instead of Swiss banks.
Due to the decreasing secrecy in Switzerland, wealthy individuals from Bangladesh and other countries may now be leaning towards tax havens like Luxembourg, the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands or Bermuda for depositing illicit funds.
The SNB report also mentioned that the rate of deposits by various Indian institutions and citizens in Swiss banks decreased by about 70% in 2023.
The amount of deposits by Indians reached its lowest in four years in 2023. Despite the reduction, the total amount of Indian deposits in Swiss banks stood at 1.04 billion Swiss francs. This marks the second consecutive year that Indian deposits in Swiss banks have declined.
For many years, thousands of people from various countries around the world have been keeping both legally and illegally obtained funds in Swiss banks. Due to strict confidentiality banking policies, people globally choose to deposit their money in these banks, especially funds obtained through illicit means and tax evasion. Although specific customer information is not provided, the Swiss National Bank has been publishing annual reports for a decade.
An analysis indicates that in 2020, the amount of money deposited by Bangladeshis in Swiss banks was less compared to the previous year. That year, deposits by Bangladeshis in Swiss banks amounted to 563 million Swiss francs, which is over Tk5,203 crore in Bangladeshi currency.
The previous year, 2019, the amount kept by Bangladeshis in various Swiss banks was 603 million francs.
In 2018, the amount was 620 million Swiss francs, compared to 661.9 million Swiss francs in 2017.
According to statistics from the Swiss central bank, the "total liabilities" of Bangladeshis in Swiss banks include all types of funds, including personal, bank and other enterprise deposits.