The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) has moved to strengthen coordination among customs, tax, law enforcement, and banking agencies to identify and prevent trade-based money laundering (TBML), a complex and transnational financial crime.
As part of the initiative, the BFIU has decided to form an inter-agency steering committee under a public-private partnership (PPP) model to improve risk identification, information sharing, and investigation into suspicious trade activities.
A report from Global Financial Integrity (GFI) says Bangladesh lost an estimated $68.3 billion through trade-based illicit financial flows between 2013 and 2022.
A 2024 white paper estimated annual trade-related outflows from Bangladesh at $16 billion, equivalent to 3.4 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) - more than the nation's total annual health budget.
A study by the Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management (BIBM) said around 75% of the funds siphoned from Bangladesh happened through trade-based money laundering.
Following the huge volume of trade-based money laundering, the BFIU made the decision at a meeting on Sunday, with representatives from the Bangladesh Bank, National Board of Revenue (NBR), law enforcement agencies, and the banking sector, according to a BFIU press release.
The proposed committee will regularly review the existing risks and challenges related to trade-based money laundering, assess progress of the ongoing initiatives, and formulate strategies to address emerging threats.
It will also focus on strengthening data analysis and information-sharing mechanisms among relevant agencies so that suspicious transactions and trade activities can be identified and investigated more effectively.
Representatives from the Bangladesh Bank's Foreign Exchange Policy Department and Foreign Exchange Operation Department attended the meeting.
The NBR was represented by officials from its Central Intelligence Cell (CIC), Customs Intelligence and Investigation Directorate (CIID), and customs houses in Dhaka, Benapole, Mongla, and ICD Kamalapur.
Officials from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Bangladesh Police and the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) also participated in the meeting.
Representatives from 15 scheduled banks with high trade volumes joined the meeting, reflecting the private sector component of the proposed PPP framework.
The BFIU considers trade-based money laundering a complex form of financial crime that often involves multiple jurisdictions, making close coordination among regulatory, customs, law enforcement, and financial institutions essential for effective prevention.
The integrated approach is also in line with the standards of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and international best practices for combating money laundering and terrorist financing.
On an annual basis, the country lost about $6.8 billion, equivalent to 16 per cent of its global trade, primarily due to trade mis-invoicing, the GFI report said.
Of this total, roughly $32.8 billion flowed to advanced economies, according to the study that examined data from 24 developing Asian countries across South Asia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia.
Bangladesh faced issues with trade-based money laundering through over-invoiced imports of capital machinery (subsidized loans diverted abroad), while Sri Lanka saw trade fraud contributing to its foreign exchange crises (over-invoicing fuel imports to funnel money out during times of lax oversight).
