BB asks banks to follow STR rules to help check illegal fund transfers

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FE Report
The central bank of Bangladesh has asked the commercial banks to strictly follow the suspicious transaction reporting (STR) rules and regulations to help check illegal fund transfers, officials said.
The instruction came at a meeting of the central taskforce on anti-money laundering held in the conference room of Bangladesh Bank (BB) Sunday with BB Executive Director Abul Quasem in the chair.
"We will inspect the branches of banks, which are not complying with the existing rules and regulations relating to STR," a senior official of the BB told the FE.
Under the existing Anti-money Laundering Ordinance, the financial institutions including banks, non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) and insurance companies will have to inform the Anti-money Laundering Department of the central bank instantly if they detect any suspicious transaction.
According to the Ordinance, the central bank will now be able to impose penalty on any bank or NBFI ranging between Tk 10,000 and Tk 0.5 million for failure to submit the reports related to money laundering.
Different financial institutions, including banks, NBFIs, insurance companies and foreign currency exchange agents have been brought under the Ordinance as reporting agencies.