BB Governor seeks stronger UK ties on asset recovery
Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr Ahsan H Mansur hoped there would be a deeper collaboration with the UK National Crimes Agency (NCA) and International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre (IACCC) in the future.
He also hoped that the UK's decision to take the lead with an aggregate £ 250mn of asset freezes would inspire other key money laundering destination country governments to also follow with similar actions to support Bangladesh's asset recovery.
The central bank Governor visited London from June 10 to June 13 as part of an entourage of Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus, according to the Chief Adviser’s press wing.
The BB Governor held a number of important meetings separately in support of key policy issues.
The Govornor, along with Anti-Corruption Commission Chairman Dr Mohammad Abdul Momen, on June 11 visited the UK National Crimes Agency (NCA) and met a number of senior officials, including Daniel Murphy, head of the International Anti-Corruption Coordination Centre (IACCC).
The Governor expressed his appreciation for the ongoing support and close collaboration IACCC had with Bangladesh's Asset Recovery Taskforce and technical assistance for the 11 Joint Investigations Teams (JITs) formed to investigate the 11 Priority Asset Recovery Cases.
The Governor also extended thanks for the NCA asset freeze of £ 170mn of the former land minister Sifuzzaman Chowdhury Javed's property assets in the UK that followed on from £ 90 mn asset freeze of Shayan Rahman and Shariar Rahman of Beximco group's assets last month.
Following the NCA visit, the Governor was the Chief Guest at an Asset Recovery Roundtable hosted by leading global law firm DLA Piper.
This was also attended by a number of major Litigation funders such as Omni Bridgeway and Benchwalk Capital, as well as investigations firms such as Alvarez and Marsal and Sovereign Advisory/Strat Comms firm Unitas Global.
They discussed the roadmap to achieve the Governor's goal to mobilize $ 100mn of Litigation funding to finance 30 cases before the end of 2025.
A number of participants emphasised the need to quickly sign NDAs with Bangladesh Bank and individual banks to share data on their Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) and start the process of asset tracing and legal actions for recovery.
Mansur also expressed his support for the suggestion from the roundtable attendees of establishing a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to pursue legal claims in key target countries like the UK and Singapore to institutionalise the asset recovery process and make it more resistant to political change.
The Governor also met the world's largest Asset Manager, Blackrock, to update them on the improving Bangladesh macro outlook and persuade them to invest more in the banking sector as well as the capital markets.
He met the Lord Mayor of London and leading fintech companies to discuss greater investment and collaboration from the City of London with Bangladesh's financial sector.
The Governor invited the Lord Mayor to visit Bangladesh at his earliest convenience.
He met a number of money exchange houses in London to understand how to make the remittance process smoother and encourage the strong momentum of remittance growth to continue.