Dhaka, Bangladesh (BBN) – The central bank of Bangladesh has planned to introduce an online system for collection of both suspicious transaction report (STR) and cash transaction report (CTR) from the banks by the end of this calendar year, officials said.
Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) of the central bank has already signed a deal with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) to procure ‘goAML’ software from the UN body.
“We expect that the software will be installed within the next two months,” a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) said, adding that the software will be able to create STR and CTR reports automatically with necessary analysis.
The central banker also said the BFIU has started discussion with other partner organisations, including the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) and the National Board of Revenue (NBR), for sharing information on anti-money laundering using the software.
“The BB has taken the latest moves to modernize the BFIU in line with international standards,” another central banker said, adding that by using the software the BFIU will be able to detect incidents of money laundering and tourist financing promptly.
The commercial banks have been asked to continue submitting STR besides CTR, as the two reports are completely different.
Under the existing provision, the banks will have to submit CTR on both withdrawal and deposit within the third week of the next month.
The commercial banks have to report if an amount of above BDT 0.70 million is deposited in or withdrawn in cash from a particular account.
BBN/SSR/AD-01Aug12-5:50 am (BST)
