Swiss accounts hold record Bangladeshi deposits
Staff Reporter :
Bangladeshi deposits in Swiss banks surged to CHF 589.54 million (approximately Tk 8,832 crore) in 2024, marking a dramatic 33-fold increase from CHF 17.71 million in the previous year, according to the Swiss National Bank’s (SNB) annual banking statistics released on Thursday.
The sharp rise is largely attributed to a significant spike in deposits by Bangladeshi banks, which jumped from just CHF 3.48 million in 2023 to CHF 576.61 million in 2024.
The latest figure represents the fifth-highest level of Bangladeshi funds held in Swiss banks since 1996 and is the second-largest inflow in the past five years, surpassed only by the record CHF 871.1 million reported at the end of 2021.
The unexpected uptick follows a historic low in 2023, when Bangladeshi holdings in Switzerland reached their lowest level
in nearly three decades.
Commenting on the development, Zahid Hussain, former lead economist at the World Bank’s Dhaka office, expressed doubts about trade-related justifications.
“Bangladesh does not import substantial volumes from Switzerland, so it is unlikely that this increase is linked to trade-related letters of credit,” he said. “It is more plausible that these transactions took place before the interim government assumed office in August 2024.”
According to the SNB data, deposits by Bangladeshi individuals declined slightly in 2024 to CHF 12.62 million, representing a 9.6 percent year-on-year decrease. Meanwhile, other deposits rose by 17 percent to CHF 0.31 million. The report, however, does not specify whether any of the deposits are linked to illicit activities.
Despite Switzerland’s move towards financial transparency through the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) initiative, Bangladesh remains outside the framework.
Since 2018, Switzerland has been sharing financial account data under the AEOI with participating countries, which include regional neighbours such as India and Pakistan.
As of March 2025, Bangladesh has yet to sign the multilateral agreement that would enable automatic exchange of financial account information with Swiss authorities.
In 2022, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU) requested account details of 67 Bangladeshi nationals suspected of money laundering, but Swiss authorities only responded with information regarding a single individual.
Zahid Hussain criticised the lack of progress, noting that despite years of discussion, successive governments have failed to take concrete action on joining the AEOI framework.
“The interim government must act swiftly to initiate the process of signing the multilateral agreement. Continued delay risks diminishing Bangladesh’s prospects of participating in the global financial transparency mechanism in the future,” he warned.