Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) - The central bank of Bangladesh has advised the banks which have exchange houses abroad to appoint agents in the respective countries to help revamp the flow of inward remittances.
The Bangladesh Bank (BB), the country’s central bank, conveyed the advice in separate letters to all 56 scheduled banks on Sunday, according to officials.
The banks are now allowed to appoint the agents in the job-destination countries through their exchange houses that will help collection of remittances, they added.
Currently, 29 exchange houses of 15 commercial banks are now operating across the globe to expedite the inflow of foreign currencies from the wage earners.
Exchange houses of only two banks –BRAC and Prime Bank –out of 15 have already appointed their agents in the United Kingdom, a BB senior official told BBN in Dhaka.
Besides, all banks have already set up 1160 drawing arrangements abroad for collection of remittances from different parts of the world, he added.
“We may relax security deposit on remittance collection purpose shortly in line with the bankers’ proposal,” the central banker hinted.
At a meeting on November 14 the bankers urged the central bank to bring down the amount of security deposit for drawing arrangement to US$ 10,000 from the existing level of $25,000.
Managing directors (MDs) and chief executive officers (CEOs) of the banks have also been instructed to build mass awareness both at home and abroad through organising remittance fairs for sending expatriates’ hard-earned money through legal channels instead of the illegal hundi system.
The central bank of Bangladesh took the latest move as Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had expressed her concern over downward projection of the inflow of remittances by the World Bank (WB) for the current calendar year.
The WB has projected that the flow of inward remittance will come down to US$14.9 billion by the end of 2016 from $15.39 billion a year ago, according to the BB officials.
BBN/SSR/AD