The circular specifies that until further instruction, the Bangladesh Bank will charge an interest rate of 3.00% on EDF loans to authorized dealer banks while authorized dealer banks are to charge interest to manufacturer-exporters of 4.50%.

On 5 October 2021, the Royal Government of Cambodia issued the Law on Competition (“Competition Law”) with the aim to provide a more fair and harmonized business environment. Subsequently, on 17 February 2022, Sub-Decree 37 was issued to form the Cambodia Competition Committee (“CCC”) as the authority to enforce implementation of the Competition Law. Furthering […]

The Foreign Exchange Supervisory Committee (“FESC”) decided to grant foreign companies an exemption from mandatory forex conversion in its meeting no.78/2022. In this regard, the Central Bank of Myanmar (“CBM”) issued letter no. FE-1/2861 dated 30 December 2022 concerning the resolution of the FESC’s meeting, which instructs the AD licensed banks to comply with such […]

Bangladesh Bank has issued further guidelines on its BDT25,000 crores refinancing scheme that was introduced in July 2022 to support CMSMEs. The scheme allows for banks and financial institutions to receive funds at 2% interest for lending to CMSMEs at up to 7% interest. Since its inception, Bangladesh Bank noticed that some banks and financial […]

Bangladesh Bank provided clarification on the opening of NITAs in the name of NRBs. Per the circular, authorized dealers (“ADs”) should obtain the following documents and information from applicants: For opening NITAs in the name of non-resident foreign nationals or institutions, ADs should establish and distribute a unified set of documents to their branches at […]

Bangladesh Bank has allowed mobile financial service providers to repatriate (conversion of foreign currency into local currency) export income and inward remittance. All authorized dealers will provide encashment certificates to MFS providers against inward remittance, on account of information technology-enabled services exports. In order to make it easier to receive foreign exchange, Bangladesh Bank issued […]

To strengthen the compliance with the report from the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”), Ministry of Commerce (“MOC”) has issued its bulletin no. 10/2022 on 31st October 2022 required that all border trade transactions must be settled only through a licensed bank (“Bulletin 10”). Bulletin 10 also mentions that the importers are allowed to acquire […]

The Ministry of Labor and Employment introduced 101 new amendments to the Labor Rule 2015, on 01 September 2022. There are some major and minor changes in the newly amended rule. Among the major changes, conduct towards women, maternity benefits, arrangement of health centers that will provide consultation to women are significant. As per the […]

As Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”) reported, one of the outcomes of the FATF 20-21 October 2022 Plenary, was that Myanmar has been added to the list of “jurisdictions subject to a call for action”.   FATF is an ‘inter-governmental body’ that ‘works to generate the necessary political will to bring about national legislative and regulatory […]

The Bank of the Lao PDR (“BOL”)Issued Decision No.779/BOL dated 11 October 2022 on the Determination of Exchange Rates to support currency stability. Commercial Bank Exchange Rates The purchase and sale exchange rates for Lao Kip (“LAK”) to US dollars (“USD”) must be set to fall within the range of ±4.50% of the reference exchange rate […]

In order to ensure the effective implementation and to realize the President’s Decree on Fees and Charges No. 002 dated 17 June 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Commerce has issued Notice No. 2053 dated 30 September 2022 on the Collection of Fees and Service Charges for enterprise registration with the following key objectives: Fees […]

Aiming to widen the scope for banks, Bangladesh Bank published a circular to settle cross-border payment in yuan. Previously, the authorized dealers could maintain a foreign currency clearing account with the Bangladesh Bank in the Chinese currency. But now banks will start to hold Chinese currency to settle payments in the future.

Aiming to facilitate transactional services by Authorized Dealers (ADs) to their merchanting traders’ customers, The Bangladesh Bank published some guideline. According to the circular, “merchanting trade” is defined as “procurement of goods and services from another country and shipment of goods and services from that country directly to buyers in a third country. As per […]

Aiming to sustainable development goal, The Bangladesh Bank has issued a circular on green bond facility for banks and financial institution. As per the circular banks or NBFIs which hold more than 10% defaulted loans are not allowed to issue such bonds. According to circular, after being approved by the board of directors’ bank or […]

The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has withdrawn the provision of mandatory income tax return certificate submission for obtaining loans and credit cards on a limited amount. According to the circular, an individual who has a tax-free income limit can get loans up to 19,398.64 USD from the scheduled banks without submission of a tax […]

The Bank of the Lao PDR (“BOL”) issued a decree (No. 184/G) on 20 June 2022 (the “Decree”) replacing the Decree on Microfinance Institutions (No. 460/G) dated 3 October 2012, that previously regulated the licensing and business activities of deposit-taking and non-deposit taking microfinance institutions in the Lao PDR. In this article, we have listed […]

Aimed to facilitate smooth transaction, Bangladesh Bank has decided that international cards (debit/prepaid) can be used for online payments of visa processing fees. In this context, banks may issue international cards in the name of officially designated by nominated agents. Generally, visa processing fees, among others, were collected through nominated resident agents of foreign embassies, […]

The Bangladesh Bank has tightened the country’s imports further as the importers will have to maintain up to 100 per cent margin against the import of luxurious and nonessential items, including Sedan car, sport utility vehicle and multi-purpose vehicle. According to the circular, Bangladesh Bank has also brought several items under its high import letter […]

On 2 June 2022 the Ministry of Transport and Communications issued letter no. PaSa-4/ (F.E-1/1)/2022 (709) (“Letter“) in implementation of a circular from the Foreign Exchange Supervisory Committee (“FESC”). The Letter states that FESC now permits logistics service companies to retain specific amounts of foreign currency in their foreign currency bank accounts in Myanmar. Any […]

On 14 June 2022, the Bank of the Lao PDR (the “BOL”) issued Decision No. 449/BOL (“Decision 449”) to manage currency exchange services provided by commercial banks and currency exchange bureaus operating in the Lao PDR. The purpose is to ensure the stability of the Lao Kip (“LAK”), which has weakened considerably against the U.S. dollar, and has been trading on the domestic market at a value below the BOL’s official exchange rate, and to close this exchange rate gap. Effective immediately, Decision 449 replaces Decision No. 109/BOL dated 1 February 2019.