Anti-Money Laundering Perspective: A Case Study on bKash

Abstract

Anti-Money Laundering and Combatting the Financing of Terrorism (AML & CFT) plays a key role in the fight against illegal financial activities. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) sets the standards for AML & CFT policies that are followed worldwide. According to this intergovernmental organization, every country should have an authoritative figure which reports back to FATF. In Bangladesh, this figure is Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), that publishes circulars containing the rules and regulations, that AML & CFT Departments in every MFS must follow. BFIU is the central agency in Bangladesh to fight against money laundering and terrorist financing. The report discusses ML/TF from Bangladesh’s perspective, why it needs to be combatted and how it is done. It specifically highlights the approaches taken by the AML & CFT Department of the leading MFS in the country, bKash Limited. Additionally, the whole organization’s functions, divisions and structure has been described briefly, along with the analysis of the MFS industry in the country. Lastly, the intern’s experience and learning of the internship tenure at bKash Limited has been described. The purpose of the report is to highlight the approaches taken by bKash’s AML & CFT Department in order to fight money laundering and combatting the financing of terrorism.