BFIU Circular No. 11: Submission of Cash Transaction Report (CTR) - Financial Institutions

1 Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit Bangladesh Bank Head Office Dhaka Ref No.: BFIU(CIRC)-11/2015-1044 Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer All Financial Institutions Operating in Bangladesh Dear Sirs, Regarding the submission of Cash Transaction Reports (CTR). In exercise of the powers conferred under Section 23 of the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012 and Section 15 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 2009 (including amendments in 2012 and 2013), the following instructions are hereby issued for due compliance by all financial institutions in Bangladesh:

1. Each financial institution shall monitor its daily transactions. If the amount of cash deposited or withdrawn (including any type of cash deposit or withdrawal, online included) through one or more transactions in a specific account on a particular day reaches or exceeds 1,000,000.00 (Ten Lakh) BDT or its equivalent in foreign currency, it shall submit a Cash Transaction Report (CTR) to the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) through its own Central Compliance Unit. In this context, cash transactions refer to cash transactions conducted by customers or third parties in favor of financial institutions operating in bank accounts of financial institutions.

2. Such reports shall be provided on a monthly basis. Accordingly, the Cash Transaction Report for each month must be submitted to the BFIU via the BFIU website by the 21st of the following month. The relevant required documents can be downloaded from the website link: http://www.bfiu.gov.bd/bn/reporting.html.

3. If no reportable cash transactions have occurred at the financial institution during the relevant month, a certificate stating "No Reportable Cash Transactions" must be submitted to the BFIU via the BFIU website under the "No Transaction" option.

4. Cash Transaction Reports are not required for cash deposits in government accounts (including various ministries and departments), government-owned institutions, semi-government, or autonomous institutions; however, Cash Transaction Reports must be submitted according to regulations for cash withdrawals.

5. The Cash Transaction Reporting system has been introduced to closely monitor the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Program by reviewing the overall situation. Previously, Suspicious Transaction Reporting was a completely separate system. Any account conducting reportable cash transactions shall not be considered as conducting suspicious transactions. However, the Central Compliance Unit of the financial institution shall review all reportable cash transactions to identify if any suspicious transactions have occurred. If suspicious transactions are observed, they shall be submitted separately to the BFIU as "Suspicious Transaction Reports." If no suspicious transactions are observed, a certificate from the Chief Money Laundering Prevention Compliance Officer stating "No Suspicious Transactions Found" must be obtained, and the BFIU must be informed via the BFIU website under the "No Transaction" option along with the monthly Cash Transaction Report.

BFIU Circular No.: 11 Date: 11 Jyestha, 1422 25 May, 2015

2 6) Financial institutions shall retain the information of Cash Transaction Reports submitted to the BFIU for at least 5 (five) years from the month of submission.

These instructions shall be deemed effective from June 1, 2015. That is, the first report of cash transactions conducted in June 2015 under this directive must be submitted to the BFIU by the specified date in July 2015.

Kindly acknowledge receipt.

Yours faithfully, (Md. Nasir Uddin) General Manager Phone: 9530118

Copy No.: BFIU(Analysis)-01/2015-1044 Date: As above Copies are sent for information and necessary action to:

1. All Department Heads, Bangladesh Bank, Head Office, Dhaka.
2. General Manager, Bangladesh Bank, Motijheel, Dhaka/Chittagong/Rajshahi/Khulna/Bogura/Sylhet/Sadarghat, Dhaka/Barishal/Rangpur/Mymensingh.
3. Executive Director, Secretary to the Governor's Office, Bangladesh Bank, Head Office, Dhaka.
4. Personal Assistant to the Governor, Bangladesh Bank, Head Office, Dhaka.
5. Deputy Director/Assistant Director attached to the Deputy Governors, Bangladesh Bank, Head Office, Dhaka.
6. Personal Assistant to the Economic Advisor/Executive Directors, Bangladesh Bank, Head Office, Dhaka.
7. Director General, Bangladesh Institute of Bank Management, Mirpur, Dhaka.
8. Secretary, The Institute of Bankers Bangladesh, BABS Building, 10th Floor, 12, Kawran Bazar, Tejgaon, Dhaka.
9. Executive Director, Bangladesh Bank Training Academy, Mirpur, Dhaka.
10. Chairman, Bangladesh Leasing and Finance Companies Association (BLFCA), Sara Tower, 11/E, Twenbee Circular Road, Motijheel, Dhaka-1000.

(Farzana Akter) Deputy Director Phone: 9530010-75/2466