Bangladesh Bank has instructed banks not to deposit customer’s payments directly to digital commerce companies’ accounts.
A circular issued on Sunday by the Payment Systems Department of the central bank said that it is being observed some digital commerce firms are receiving payments from customers against goods and services and depositing the money directly to their own accounts.
This is being done in a bid to avert the Bangladesh government’s “Digital Commerce Operation Directives-2021” and also the directives issued by Bangladesh Bank’s PSD circular in this regard, it added.
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In such a situation, the circular said, the instructions are that no advance payment against goods or services are allowed to be directly deposited to the accounts of digital commerce companies or any accounts belonging to any persons involved in the companies.
Secondly, the banks will allow operation of bank accounts of the digital commerce companies after ensuring the due diligence through checking the profile of the transactions, analyzing their characteristics and considering the overall risk in the transactions.
Banking industry sources said such instructions came against the backdrop of fraudulence by some digital commerce companies, known as E-commerce firms. Some of these firms had their operations suspended by the Commerce Ministry following allegations raised by consumers.
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