Bangladesh Bank has sent a letter yesterday to the financial intelligence unit (FIU) of Switzerland for signing memorandum of understanding (MoU) – a process to get access to information on money laundering.
‘’We have sent a letter to the FIU for signing a MoU as Bangladesh has no agreement with the Swiss government to share information,” Bangladesh Bank Executive Director Mahfuzur Rahman said yesterday.
“We want to see whether any Bangladeshi national deposited money in the Swiss bank.”
Bangladesh as a member of Egmont Group, a forum of the Financial Intelligence Units of different countries, is now empowered to exchange information on money laundering and terror financing among its member countries. “But, we have to sign the MoU as a process of sharing the information,” said the central bank executive.
Bangladesh Bank already signed deal with 24 countries, including the United Kingdom, Japan, Sri Lanka, India, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
The central bank’s move emerged after deposits made by Bangladeshi nationals with different Swiss banks reportedly swelled by 62% to Tk3,236 crore in 2013 from Tk1,991crore in 2012.
