27 banks face show-cause for dollar overspending by credit card
A Bangladeshi national is allowed to spend a maximum of $12,000 by credit card per year
The Bangladesh Bank recently issued show-cause notices to 27 domestic and foreign banks as their clients spent more dollars abroad than the expenditure limit.
Mohammad Sirajul Islam, central bank spokesperson and also an executive director of the Bangladesh Bank, 71 credit cards issued by the banks violated the dollar spending ceiling.
"A recent inspection by the central bank found the violation. They [the banks] have been asked to explain it within five working days," he added.
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According to the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, a Bangladeshi national is allowed to spend a maximum of $12,000 by credit card per year. In special cases, it can be extended by $500 dollars more.
Bankers said there are rules about setting a ceiling for foreign currency spending on credit cards, but the 27 banks did not follow it.
During the inspection, central bank officials found the maximum amount spent through the 71 cards was up to $20,000.
Earlier, a central bank inspection found dollar overspending by 11 credit cards of National Bank. For this, the bank was fined Tk55 lakh.
Amid the ongoing US dollar shortage, the greenback rose to Tk120 in the open market on 10 August. The authorities subsequently raided exchange houses and cancelled money exchange licences of five firms. The central bank also encouraged out-bound people for more dollar transactions by cards instead of cash.
Dollar transactions by cards grew around 31% to Tk37,699 crore in July this year compared to the previous month, according to the e-banking and e-commerce statistics of the central bank.
