Maintaining FC accounts by resident Bangladeshis and others with Offshore Banking Operations

Foreign Exchange Policy Department Bangladesh Bank Head Office Dhaka www.bb.org.bd FE Circular No. 19 Date: November 29, 2023 All Authorized Dealers in foreign exchange in Bangladesh Dear Sirs, Maintaining FC accounts by resident Bangladeshis and others with Offshore Banking Operations In accordance with the prevailing circular and guidelines, any scheduled commercial bank can operate offshore banking in Bangladesh obtaining approval from Bangladesh Bank. The BRPD circular No-02, dated 25th February 2019 has outlined the details of the approval process, operational modalities and scope to conduct offshore banking operations(OBOs), including acceptance of deposits in Foreign Currency(FC) from eligible customers. 02. To facilitate the said operations in a wider scale, it has been decided that persons resident outside Bangladesh without limiting to non-resident Bangladeshi nationals, persons of Bangladeshi origin, foreign nationals, companies/firms registered and operating abroad, foreign institutional investors may open and maintain FC accounts in approved foreign currency with OBOs. 03. It has also been decided that OBOs may maintain FC accounts termed as International Banking (IB) accounts in the name of resident Bangladeshi individuals and corporate entities including Type-A, Type-B and Type-C industrial enterprises operating in EPZs/EZs/HTPs having bonafide relations with non-residents. In this context, IB account-holder will act as facilitator of remitters and utilize the funds accordingly. 04. Accounts opened as per above mentioned procedures may be credited by inward remittances received through official channel only. 05. OBOs are allowed to offer interest/profit considering benchmark reference rate in the approved currency of deposits to be maintained in the form of term deposits, as mentioned below: Period of deposit Ceiling rate Up to 1 Year not less than 3 months Benchmark reference rate + 1.5 percent Above 1 year and up to 3 years Benchmark reference rate + 2.25 percent Above 3 years and up to 5 years Benchmark reference rate + 3.25 percent Continued page-02

-02- 06. Balances held in deposit accounts can be used for- (i) transfer to on-shore bank accounts for meeting necessary payments and various investments; and (ii) making outward remittances of balance amount including interest/profit as and when necessary. 07. All other instructions relating to the transactions of OBOs shall remain unchanged. You are advised to bring the content of this circular to the notice of your OBOs for meticulous compliance.

Yours faithfully,

Md. Sarwar Hossain Director (FEPD) Phone: 9530123