Money changers asked to meet annual targets for licence renewal

The Bangladesh Bank will not allow money changers to renew their licence without achieving the statutory annual business target.

The central bank issued a circular in this regard on Thursday, asking head office and principal offices of all authorised dealers and licenced money changers in Bangladesh to inform all parties concerned.

Presently, to renew the licence, the minimum required annual volume of foreign exchange transactions of money changers is $500,000 in the city corporation areas of Dhaka and Chattogram and $350,000 for other areas.

Considering the present situation of economic recovery, the central bank said that statutory business volume of foreign exchange transactions to be achieved annually by licenced money changers will be mandatory for renewal of licences.

According to the guidelines, for foreign exchange transactions, the central bank may not consider money changers' petitions for licence renewals unless the volume of their transactions in the previous year has reached the threshold amount fixed by the Bangladesh Bank.

According to the central bank's statistics, 235 licenced money changers are currently doing business in the country.