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          The US government will provide technical and other assistance for setting up a financial intelligence unit (FIU) in Bangladesh to check money laundering and financing of terrorism.
Two visiting US Treasury Department intelligence experts disclosed this while exchanging views with the concerned local officials at a training programme held Thursday at the central bank.
US Treasury Department's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) Senior Research Analyst Mary Jo Melancon and Senior Intelligence Research Specialist Kristen J King, who arrived in Dhaka last week, have already held meetings with Bangladesh Bank (BB) officials and other selected groups like the police and the judicial service personnel.
During the three-day long training programme, the two high-ups exchanged views with concerned local officials to have an idea about setting up of the FIU.
Sources said the two US experts are here also to know about the existing monetary transaction system and the possible ways for financing terrorist activities through it.
"We seek help from the US government to set up the FIU for combating the financing for terrorism," a BB senior official told the FE Thursday, adding that the board of directors of the central bank has already approved around Tk 3.0 million to start work for the FIU.
"We are hopeful about full operation of the FIU by the end of this year," the official added.
The FIU will be a central national agency responsible for receiving, analysing and disseminating information to the competent authorities, besides disclosing financial information on suspicious movements of funds.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Money Laundering Department (AMLD) of the BB has collected various documents to form its opinion about constituting the FIU in the country, the sources in the central bank said.
Sources said around 100 countries, including Thailand, Korea, Japan and Malaysia, have already introduced the FIUs to check illegal fund transfers and financing of terrorism.
These countries formed the FIUs in line with the recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF). The FATF has already approved 48 recommendations to curb money laundering, the sources added.
The FATF is an inter-governmental body whose purpose is the development and promotion of policies, both national and international, to combat money laundering and financing of terrorism.
Bangladesh is now serving as a member of the standing committee of Asia Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG), a regional anti-money laundering body, which is part of a global network.