Money changers barred from keeping over Tk 50 lakh a day
The Bangladesh Bank today said no money changer in the country will be allowed to keep over Tk 50 lakh in their vault a day.
The banking regulator took the decision mainly to tackle hundi as there was no regulation about how much money a money changer could preserve per day.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. A Bangladesh Bank official said there is an allegation that some money changers might have been involved in hundi activities—an illegal cross-border financial transaction—which has already put an adverse impact on remittance inflow.
He explained that if a money changer keeps more than Tk 1 crore, there is a possibility that they are involved in hundi operation as preserving such large amount of money is illogical given their small business volume.
As per the central bank role, a money changer can stock a maximum of $25,000 or equivalent of other foreign currencies at the close of each business day.
Cash foreign currency beyond this limit will either be encashed with any bank or deposited to the foreign currency (FC) account maintained by a money changer with the bank.
The balance of that account must not exceed $50,000 or equivalent at any point of time.
The price of the US dollar recently escalated to Tk 120 in the local open market thanks to the ongoing volatility in the foreign exchange market.
The BB official said the money changers had also been involved in manipulating the exchange rate in the open market.
Against this backdrop, several central bank inspection teams along with the members of an intelligence agency went for sudden visits to different money changers in Dhaka city in July this year.
Bangladesh Bank has suspended the licences of at least five money changers and served show-cause notices on around 40 for their alleged involvement in the manipulation of US dollar prices in the open market.
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