The amount of money held under Bangladesh鈥檚 name in Swiss banks has surged dramatically, by around 23-fold in a year, raising concern over the nature and ownership of this fund.
According to the annual statistics released on Thursday by the Swiss National Bank, the central bank of Switzerland, Swiss banks鈥� liabilities to Bangladeshi entities rose to 598.2 million Swiss francs by the end of 2024 鈥� equivalent to approximately Tk 8,972 crore.
It showed a sharp rise from just 26.4 million francs (Tk 396 crore) at the end of 2023, indicating a nearly 23-fold increase in a single year. The volume stood at 58.4 million francs (Tk 876 crore) at the end of 2022.
Such a rapid rise follows a historical low recorded in 2023, when total funds held under Bangladesh鈥檚 name in Swiss banks dropped to their lowest since SNB began releasing country-specific data in 1996.
The 2024 figure is now the fifth-highest on record and the second-largest in the last five years, surpassed only by the CHF 871.1 million peak seen in 2021.
Most of the 2024 surge is attributed to deposits from Bangladeshi banks, which jumped to CHF 576.61 million from just CHF 3.48 million a year earlier.
Deposits by Bangladeshi individuals stood at CHF 12.62 million in 2024 鈥� a 9.6 per cent decline from the previous year 鈥� while other deposits grew 17 per cent to CHF 0.31 million.
聽Therefore, over 95 per cent of the reported deposits are connected to Bangladeshi banks, likely related to trade-related transactions.
However, experts suspected that the figures could include laundered money.
The Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit has contacted its Swiss counterpart multiple times seeking information, particularly following its 2022 request for details on several individuals allegedly involved in money laundering. However, Swiss authorities gave seldom responses.
Besides, Bangladesh鈥檚 absence from the Automatic Exchange of Information, a global initiative led by the Organization for Economic Co-operation Development to combat tax evasion through financial data sharing, complicated the issue further.
In 2024, the Swiss Federal Tax Administration shared account information under the AEOI framework with 108 countries. Bangladesh was not among them.
Moreover, the current data of Swiss banks do not reveal anything specific about illicit funds. Also, the statistics do not account for assets such as gold, valuable artwork, or other high-value items stored in Swiss bank vaults, nor do they include money held under third-country identities.
These limitations leave significant room for speculation over the true nature of the funds associated with Bangladesh.
Former World Bank Dhaka office chief economist Zahid Hussain said that the jump in deposits by Bangladeshis in Swiss banks indicated capital flight in the past years, featured by the controversial election in January, change of regime in August and falling forex reserves.
This is a trigger for a deep drive into Swiss banks by authorities concerned, he said.
