BB Eying Local Banks on Dollar Selling

To prevent banks from selling dollars for more than the rate approved by the relevant authorities, the central bank is starting field-level actions.

Six teams have been established by the regulator to oversee the situation immediately beginning on Monday (24 July), according to sources at the Bangladesh Bank.

The action was taken as a result of complaints the central bank received regarding 13 banks selling dollars at excessive prices.

13 local and international institutions, according to sources, are now participating in dollar manipulation.

The Bangladesh Bank has received preliminary evidence against the banks for buying and selling dollars at higher prices than the rate set by the Bangladesh Foreign Exchange Dealers Association (Bafeda), said sources.

"The Bangladesh Bank has started an investigation on the banks involved in dollar manipulation. Details will be available once the investigation is completed. Action will be taken against those involved," Mezbahul Haque, executive director and spokesperson of the regulatory body, said a few days ago.

The names of the 13 banks currently manipulating the dollar price have come out in the preliminary investigation. Among these are several banks that were previously accused of manipulating the dollar price, according to officials familiar with the matter.

Officials of the Bangladesh Bank alleged that amid a dollar supply crisis, some banks began making extra profits by hoarding the greenback beyond the allowed limits. By keeping those dollars out of the market, those banks artificially hike the price of the US currency, they said.

Some banks also hide the information about storing dollars, they also alleged.

Earlier in August 2022, the central bank ordered the removal of six banks' treasury chiefs after finding evidence of increasing dollar rates by storing the greenback beyond allowed limits. Of these, five were domestic and one was a foreign bank.

Later, five of the removed treasury chiefs were permitted to return to their previous positions. The managing directors (MD) of the banks concerned were also acquitted of the charges brought against them.