Special Correspondent :
Nine local private banks were sued by Bangladesh Bank (BB) on Sunday for manipulation of exchange rates against US dollars.
Md. Serajul Islam, spokesperson of the central bank, said that a BB team recently found involvement of some private banks in charging above the ceiling from clients amid a rising demand for imports and travel abroad.
“The banks were asked to clarify by next three days. The ‘show cause’ notices were signed today (October 28),” Md. Serajul Islam told The New Nation last evening.
These banks are Dhaka Bank, Dutch-Bangla Bank, City Bank, Prime Bank, Trust Bank, Mutual Trust Bank, BASIC Bank, Exim Bank and NCC Bank.
All the scheduled banks were directed to charge Tk. 83.85 against one US dollar in exchange.
But the BB inspection team found that those banks were charging more than the ceiling upto Tk. 84.95 for one US dollar.
For excess charge, the banks are likely to face penalty, according to the central bank’s foreign currency regulation.
“Violation of central bank directives is an offense. But I can’t tell you the type of penalty right now. Because, in central bank’s history, there was no such offense before,” he said.
In recent months, the exchange rate for US dollar went up due to rising demand and a supply side shortfall. As result, the exchange rate has gone up.
To mitigate this supply crunch, the central bank has injected around USD 2.5 billion into the banking sector to keep stability in the market.
The spokesperson said, the BB has adequate reserves of foreign currency.
“It is free to all the scheduled banks to place demand for purchase of US dollars at reasonable rate within the ceiling to meet clients’ requirement,” he added.
