Staff Reporter :
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has fined seven banks and a financial institute for violating money laundering law.
They have been slapped with fines from Tk 200,000 to Tk 2,000,000 for not keeping client affidavits and also for not informing authorities of suspicious transactions in time.
The central bank can impose fines from Tk 50,000 to 2.5 million for the violation of laws to prevent money laundering.
Sources said, Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited and Premier Bank Limited have been penalised with the largest fine of Tk 2,000,000. BRAC Bank must pay Tk 500,000, Mercantile Bank Tk 400,000, while Dutch-Bangla Bank, Southeast Bank and Uttara Bank each have to pay Tk 200,000.
Bangladesh Investment Finance Corporation, a financial institute, has also been fined Tk 100,000 for violating money laundering law.
“Banks are liable for keeping accurate and full affidavits of their clients. It is a central bank order to do so. The banks have recently been fined for not following BFIU’s directions properly,” Md. Magfuzur Rahman, deputy head of Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) and also executive director of the BB, told a news agency.
He said in 2002, the central bank instructed all banks to update KYC (Know Your Customer) forms of their accounts and set a deadline until 2010 for that. Later, the time was extended until 2012.
“Bangladesh Bank officials still found several accounts (in the banks) without any KYC. Some of those accounts were found dotted with suspicious transactions and the banks did not inform the BFIU of those transactions. That’s why they have been penalised,” said the central bank spokesman.
Meanwhile, the banks after 12 years have now geared up for the updating works, inserting advertisements in newspapers, through the Association of Bankers Bangladesh (ABB), seeking information from their clients.
They are asking clients to submit their recent photographs, copies of National ID and utility bills within 30 days. The banks, through those advertisements, also warn that failing to provide the documents will lead to suspension of customers’ banking services like transactions, debit cards and online banking.
According to central bank officials, there are allegations against the Islami Bank Bangladesh Ltd of terror-financing. Earlier, it was found that
the banks clients include some people, who were under the suspicious people’s list of the UN. The bank had ‘concealed’ that information from the Bangladesh Bank, said the new agency.
It added: The bank has also been blamed in a US Senate Committee report for money laundering and terror-financing. Since 2010, the central bank has appointed an observer for Islami Bank.
