Bangladesh Bank on Saturday instructed commercial banks not to charge more than Tk 300 as a passport endorsement fee and prohibited them from imposing any additional service charges or commissions under the guise of foreign currency sales.
The central bank issued a circular to this effect on the same day.
In the circular, the central bank stated that it had received reports indicating that scheduled banks were collecting endorsement fees at varying rates and applying separate service charges or commissions through their authorised dealer branches.
This practice has been deterring customers from purchasing foreign currency through the formal banking system, the circular added.
To address the issue, the central bank, for the first time, fixed the endorsement fee and made it clear that no other charges, under any designation, may be levied beyond this amount.
The directive, issued under Section 45 of the Bank Company Act, 1991, would come into effect immediately.
