Bangladesh Bank has tightened rules for replacing damaged bank notes, introducing new restrictions on refunding banknotes.
The Bangladesh Bank issued 鈥楴ote Refund Regulations, 2025鈥� on October 9 having an immediate effect.
It aims to prevent the altering, tore, mismatching of bank note while improving the integrity of the refund process.
According to the new regulation, any note bearing writings or symbols promoting political parties, religious ideologies, or individuals, as well as advertisements for commercial products, will no longer be eligible for refund.
The central bank said that the policy intends to discourage mutilation of currency and ensure that only genuine, undamaged legal tender remains in circulation.
The regulation also sets clear criteria for refund eligibility based on the physical condition of the note.
A single, continuous piece with over 90 per cent of its surface intact will receive full value.
If 75 to 90 per cent of the note remains, 75 per cent of its value will be refunded; for 51 to 75 per cent, half of the value will be paid.
Any note with less than 51 per cent of its surface or deliberately torn, cut, or perforated will be rejected.
In the case of burnt or water-damaged notes, refund decisions must be made by a special committee nominated by the bank鈥檚 head office, headed by an executive-level officer not below the rank of deputy director.
Burnt notes must retain enough un-burnt portions to verify security features such as the watermark, serial number, and security thread.
For severely fragmented notes, both serial numbers must be visible, and the combined fragments must make up at least 60 per cent of the note鈥檚 area.
The regulation further lists key security features for identifying genuine notes, including the specific paper quality, intaglio printing, colour-shifting ink, latent image writing, microtext, watermark, and iridescent stripe.
Central bank officials said the move replaces the Bangladesh Bank Note Refund Regulations, 2012, updating standards to reflect modern anti-counterfeiting measures and digital recordkeeping.
The tighter refund policy is expected to reduce fraudulent claims, damaging notes, and strengthen public trust in the integrity of Bangladesh鈥檚 banknotes.
