Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Ahsan H Mansur. File Photo

DHAKA, April 9, 2025 (BSS) - Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Ahsan H Mansur visited London during March 17-21, 2025 in connection with the government's ongoing efforts to recover stolen assets, and participate in workshops organized by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on financial inclusion and interoperability among all financial entities/clients.

The recovery of stolen assets misappropriated during the 16 years of the Awami League regime, much of which was transferred illegally overseas, is an important policy priority for the interim government. 

The two major sources of such stolen assets were via the banking sector as well as government corruption. The former is reflected in a record level of Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) of at least 20% and rising.
 
The Chief Adviser held an Asset Recovery Review meeting on March 10 in which he directed all the key agencies engaged in Asset Recovery to accelerate their efforts in the key money laundering destination countries, according to a statement of the CA press wing.

In this context, the Governor of Bangladesh Bank, Dr Ahsan H Mansur, who also heads the Asset Recovery Taskforce, visited London from March 17-21 and held meetings with a wide range of key stakeholders in the public and private sector. 

Since the UK is a major development partner of Bangladesh, a major financial centre as well as one of the largest destination countries for stolen assets the trip was especially significant.

Earlier on March 17, a meeting was held with the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Corruption held at Portcullis House, UK Parliament. The BB Governor was the chief guest and the APPG was moderated by co-chair Joe Powell MP and also the participation of Rupa Huq MP, Baroness Uddin, Rt Hon Alex Chalk KC, immediate past Lord Chancellor and Justice Secretary in the previous Conservative Government. 

In addition other key stakeholders such as leading Anti-Corruption NGOs such as Transparency International and Spotlight on Corruption as well as leading UK press and civil society as well as Bangladeshi Diaspora.

The Governor expressed his appreciation for the ongoing support by the UK Government for Bangladesh's Asset Recovery efforts including International Anti Corruption Coordination Centre (IACCC) technical assistance with 4 visits already to Dhaka. 

There was a strong consensus that successful Asset Recovery is a Moral, Political and Financial imperative both for Bangladesh also for those assets where stolen assets were illegally money laundered. 

Several UK NGOs argued that the UK should increase their support to Bangladesh's efforts and urgently consider additional tools such as sanctions that would send a clear signal to the kleptocrats that they would be held accountable for their financial crimes.

The central bank Governor met with FCDO minister for Asia Catherine West MP, at the FCDO (Foreign and Commonwealth Office) building. He expressed his appreciation of FCDO support in reforming and strengthening Bangladesh Bank as well as the Asset Quality Review (AQR) being conducted on problem banks as well as the overall banking reform process.
 
He also appreciated their support in funding the International Centre for Asset Recovery (ICAR) work in Bangladesh, particularly on legal strategy, which complemented the IACCC work in strengthening the investigations process.

On March 19, A Bangladesh Asset Recovery Seminar was held in London with almost 30 firms participating and 100 attendees (60 in person and 40 online), including leading law firms, forensic investigators and litigation funders. The Governor emphasized the important role private sector law firms and funders could play in Bangladesh's Asset Recovery efforts, which are one of the largest and most complex in history. 

He mentioned that a Terms of Reference (TOR) would be drafted and issued before the end of April, with technical assistance and support from World Bank StAR and ICAR team, which would lay out the terms by which private firms could engage. 

The Governor also mentioned that at the direction of the Chief Advisor at the March 10 review meeting, a new Asset Recovery Act was being drafted.

Former UK Chancellor Rt Hon Alex Chalk KC, emphasized that in addition to G2G collaboration on asset recovery, London was the second largest centre in the world for legal expertise and Bangladesh would benefit from stronger engagement with "Legal London".

The BB Governor had additional one on one interview with leading UK media including Al Jazeera, Financial Times, Guardian and Daily Mail to build stronger political support in the UK for Bangladesh's Asset Recovery efforts. In addition, he received feedback from two of the UK's leading Strategic Communication firms on how Bangladesh can better communicate internationally and build support for its Asset Recovery process.

The Governor had individual meetings with 3 of the world's largest litigation funders, who expressed an interest in investing and supporting Bangladesh's Asset Recovery efforts in hiring law firms and investigators. Collectively they suggested if they could gather sufficient evidence to pursue cases, they may invest up to $ 50mn in Bangladesh's efforts to recover stolen assets. 

The Governor invited them to come to Bangladesh at the earliest to review the cases that could be pursued with Litigation funding. 

Activities in connection with Financial Inclusion and Interoperability:

1) Workshop with Gates Foundation (March 18-21): Around twelve Bangladesh Bank staff including the Governor and Deputy Governor attended a four-day workshop with Gates Foundation. These workshops discussed: (i) The basics of inclusivity in instant payment systems; (ii) inclusive governance and the role of the Central Bank; and (iii) introduction to "Mojaloop" to take forward the interoperability of the payment system. A decision on the possible adoption of the "Mojaloop" system will be taken soon.

2) Workshop with Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance (CCAF): Bangladesh Bank conducted a workshop with Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance (CCAF) from the University of Cambridge - discussing the potential of new technological instruments to reach the unbanked population in Bangladesh. 

The workshop discussed the prospects of Agent Banks to replace shadow banks in banks in Bangladesh - and how such new approaches to banking can be strengthened. The workshop discussed the prospects of creating a similar research organization in Bangladesh - perhaps, "Bangladesh Center for Alternative and Inclusive Finance" that will focus on identifying technologies, policies and regulatory reforms to take forward the agenda of alternative and inclusive finance in Bangladesh with support from the private sector, GoB and development partners.

3) Workshop with GSMA: Bangladesh Bank conducted a workshop with GSM. The GSM Association (GSMA) is a non-profit trade association that represents the interests of mobile network operators worldwide. More than 750 mobile operators are full GSMA members and a further 400 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem are associate members. The workshop focused on discussing how to create conducive conditions for building a "cashless economy" by drawing from the global experiences of countries like Cambodia, Vietnam, India, China, etc. Especially, how Bangladesh can accelerate the usage of QR codes, credit cards and Mobile Financial Services for payments.

4) Discussion with International Growth Centre (IGC) at LSE: The Governor had a meeting with the representatives of the International Growth Centre (IGC), which is an economic research centre based at the London School of Economics, operated in partnership with University of Oxford's Blavatnik School of Government. The meeting was attended by IGC's Executive Director Professor Jonathan Leape and Director of Research Dr. Tim Dobermann. 

It focused on how IGC can support Bangladesh Bank through research collaborations , including a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will lead to collaboration on capacity building measures (eg: use of AI, integrating carbon risks into macro modeling, and others) and the possible re-organization of the Statistics Department of Bangladesh Bank. 

It also reviewed the progress made in ongoing projects with the IGC that is focused on creating a historic and spatial banking sector indicators from 1973 onwards to understand the state of financial inclusion in Bangladesh across all Upazilas. 

The IGC representatives expressed their interest to collaborate on more evidence based research issues with Bangladesh Banks in the coming days.