BB instructs checking dollars spent against each passport before fresh endorsement
The Bangladesh Bank (BB) has instructed authorised dealer (AD) banks and money changers to verify the amount of foreign currency a customer has spent against their passport before endorsing fresh foreign currency.
The central bank's Foreign Exchange Operation Department issued a circular in this regard on Tuesday.
According to the circular, before releasing foreign currency under a traveller's passport, banks and money changers must verify the amount of dollars spent by the concerned traveller in the central bank's Online TM Form Monitoring System (OTFMS), International Card Monitoring System (ICMS) or Online Money Changer Monitoring System (OMCMS).
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A senior official of the central bank said that banks and money changers have repeatedly endorsed fresh foreign currency without properly verifying how much foreign currency a traveller has spent under their passport in the current year.
"This often results in travellers endorsing dollars above their annual limit. The directive came to prevent this from recurring in the coming days," he added.
According to the central bank, currently, a traveller can spend up to $12,000 a year endorsed against their passport. Children under 12 are allowed to endorse up to $6,000 against their passports. Earlier, they could spend a maximum of $7,000. The limit was increased in a circular issued in 2019.
