Dhaka applies for Egmont Group membership
Wednesday, 16 December 2009
Siddique Islam
Bangladesh has applied for membership of Egmont Group to operate its newly-established financial intelligence unit (FIU) in line with international standard, officials said Monday.
Malaysia, an Egmont Group member country, made the proposal for inclusion of Bangladesh in the Toronto-based Egmont Group, which was seconded by Thailand, another member country of the Group.
The Egmont Group, formed in 1995, is the coordinating body for the international group of FIUs. It has now 106 members across the world to promote and enhance international cooperation in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing.
Both the countries have raised some legal issues and suggested that Bangladesh should comply with the legal matters shortly that would facilitate the process of obtaining her membership in the group.
The countries particularly raised the matters of Bangladesh Bank's practice of issuing circulars without amending existing acts relating to anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism, the central bank officials said.
They said both the government and the central bank of Bangladesh are now working to comply with the legal issues.
"We'll invite the concerned authorities of Malaysia and Thailand to visit Bangladesh for discussion of the legal issues," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.
He also said the BB will invite the Bank Negara Malaysia, the central bank of Malaysia, and the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) of Thailand to send their representatives for discussion of the issues.
The AMLO serves as the Financial Intelligence Unit for law enforcement agencies in Thailand. As such, a primary function is to collect and analyse various reports submitted to AMLO by financial institutions and other sources of information in order to identify subjects for investigation.
"We are hopeful about receiving result relating to obtaining membership of the Group by the end of 2010," the BB official said, adding the central bank is working to implement the recommendations of mutual evaluation report on Bangladesh, prepared by the Asia Pacific Group (APG) on Money Laundering.
David Shannon, principal executive official of the APG, is now in Dhaka for providing training to both officials and policy makers for implementation of the reports.
Mr. Shannon arrived in Dhaka Saturday last for a three-day visit to facilitate implementation of the reports.
In 2008, Mr. Shannon led a five-member expert team from the APG to prepare the report after revelation of the country's overall performance in curbing money laundering and alleged terror financing.
The expert team has already submitted the report to the concerned authorities of Bangladesh for implementation within the next five years.
"The APG team prepared the report in line with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Money Laundering recommendations," another BB official said, adding that the FATF earlier approved 49 recommendations to curb money laundering and terror financing.
The FATF is an inter-governmental body, whose job is to develop and promote policies, both national and international, to combat money laundering and check financing of terrorism.
Bangladesh is now serving as a member of the APG, a regional anti-money laundering body, which is a part of the global network.
Bangladesh has applied for membership of Egmont Group to operate its newly-established financial intelligence unit (FIU) in line with international standard, officials said Monday.
Malaysia, an Egmont Group member country, made the proposal for inclusion of Bangladesh in the Toronto-based Egmont Group, which was seconded by Thailand, another member country of the Group.
The Egmont Group, formed in 1995, is the coordinating body for the international group of FIUs. It has now 106 members across the world to promote and enhance international cooperation in anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing.
Both the countries have raised some legal issues and suggested that Bangladesh should comply with the legal matters shortly that would facilitate the process of obtaining her membership in the group.
The countries particularly raised the matters of Bangladesh Bank's practice of issuing circulars without amending existing acts relating to anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism, the central bank officials said.
They said both the government and the central bank of Bangladesh are now working to comply with the legal issues.
"We'll invite the concerned authorities of Malaysia and Thailand to visit Bangladesh for discussion of the legal issues," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE.
He also said the BB will invite the Bank Negara Malaysia, the central bank of Malaysia, and the Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) of Thailand to send their representatives for discussion of the issues.
The AMLO serves as the Financial Intelligence Unit for law enforcement agencies in Thailand. As such, a primary function is to collect and analyse various reports submitted to AMLO by financial institutions and other sources of information in order to identify subjects for investigation.
"We are hopeful about receiving result relating to obtaining membership of the Group by the end of 2010," the BB official said, adding the central bank is working to implement the recommendations of mutual evaluation report on Bangladesh, prepared by the Asia Pacific Group (APG) on Money Laundering.
David Shannon, principal executive official of the APG, is now in Dhaka for providing training to both officials and policy makers for implementation of the reports.
Mr. Shannon arrived in Dhaka Saturday last for a three-day visit to facilitate implementation of the reports.
In 2008, Mr. Shannon led a five-member expert team from the APG to prepare the report after revelation of the country's overall performance in curbing money laundering and alleged terror financing.
The expert team has already submitted the report to the concerned authorities of Bangladesh for implementation within the next five years.
"The APG team prepared the report in line with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) on Money Laundering recommendations," another BB official said, adding that the FATF earlier approved 49 recommendations to curb money laundering and terror financing.
The FATF is an inter-governmental body, whose job is to develop and promote policies, both national and international, to combat money laundering and check financing of terrorism.
Bangladesh is now serving as a member of the APG, a regional anti-money laundering body, which is a part of the global network.