BB wary about forex endorsement against passport

The ongoing US dollar crisis has made the Bangladesh Bank (BB) more cautious about foreign exchange endorsements against passports.

The regulator in a circular on Tuesday asked all the authorised banks and foreign exchange dealers to submit online data properly in terms of endorsement.

The circular, issued by BB’s Foreign Exchange Operation Department, stated that the previous endorsement on a passport page must be verified before a new endorsement.

The amount of foreign currency spent against a passport should be properly verified by the Online TM Form Monitoring System or International Card Monitoring System or Online Money Changer Monitoring System of the central bank and after that, verified new endorsed should be allowed, it said.

The amount of foreign currency spent in the same calendar year should also be verified against the previous passport number, said the circular. The new instructions came into effect on Tuesday.

From now on, foreign currency endorsement can be done simultaneously for as many years as the validity of a passport. For example, if one’s passport is valid for five years, then one will be able to get a USD endorsement for five years.

However, according to the rules, no more than $12,000 can be spent in a year of a passport holder and this amount of foreign exchange can be endorsed.