BB governor orders tighter surveillance at banks after over-invoicing detected

Bangladesh Bank Governor Md Mostaqur Rahman has directed commercial banks to strengthen monitoring mechanisms to prevent over-invoicing and under-invoicing in import and export transactions after detecting a recent case at a bank.

The instruction came during a meeting with senior officials of Bangladesh Bank today (4 March), according to meeting sources.

Sources said the governor informed officials that an incident of over-invoicing at a bank had come to his attention. Upon further inquiry by central bank officials, the allegation was found to be true, and the concerned bank also confirmed the matter.

Following the findings, the governor urged officials to take necessary steps to ensure that no over-invoicing or under-invoicing takes place through commercial banks. He stressed the need to modernise the pricing dashboard used for monitoring trade transactions and called for the introduction of more automated and AI-based price verification systems.

Currently, banks rely on customer-declared prices when processing import documents. The governor instructed officials to develop an automated system to verify whether the declared prices of imported goods are accurate.

An official present at the meeting said Bangladesh Bank and individual banks conduct random checks to detect pricing irregularities. However, the governor emphasised that banks themselves must enhance their internal capacity to identify such discrepancies proactively.

Officials noted that incidents of over- and under-invoicing were more frequently detected in 2022 and 2023, though such cases have declined in recent times.

The governor also called for decentralising certain policies and measures and urged quick resolution of policy barriers faced by freelancers and egg exporters in receiving export proceeds under existing central bank regulations.