Don't trade with US-sanctioned Myanmar banks

Bangladesh Bank (BB) has instructed all the commercial banks not to do any financial transaction with two Myanmar banks facing US sanctions, officials said.

The central bank, recently in a letter, issued the instruction asking local banks to refrain from transacting with Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) and Myanmar Investment and Commercial Bank (MICB).

The BB move comes after the sanctions issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control, a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the US Treasury Department on June last.

After receiving letter from the US embassy in Dhaka, the foreign ministry sent a letter to the Financial Institutions Division under the ministry of finance on August 3 last informing about the two banks' accounts with the state-owned Sonali Bank Limited.

Seeking anonymity, a BB official said they have already instructed local commercial banks regarding the suspension of transaction with the two Burmese lenders.

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