Visitors' digital wallets, travellers' jewellery and gold for jewellery exports
How banks may buy foreign currency from the digital wallets of incoming tourists through foreign payment service providers, what women travellers may bring in as personal jewellery, and how jewellery exporters may import gold, silver and stones back to back.
In Lesson 36, Bringing foreign currency and Taka into Bangladesh, Rakib's cousin Jamil learned that foreign cash above USD 10,000 must be declared on Form FMJ, that Taka is limited to Taka 10,000, and that currency notes may not be sent into Bangladesh by post or courier without Bangladesh Bank's permission.
But many visitors today carry hardly any cash at all. Lukas, a tourist from Europe on his first trip to Bangladesh, walks into the branch holding up his phone. "At home I pay for everything with my digital wallet," he says. "Here the tea stall wants Taka, and the ATM doesn't know my wallet. How do I turn the money in my phone into Taka?"
Rakib is still thinking when two more visitors arrive. Rakib's mother has just come back from a family wedding abroad, wearing every bangle she owns. "Your Customs officer friend said there is no limit for me," she says. "Is that true?" And Rumi, the jewellery maker from Tanti Bazar, has a new export order and needs gold.
Sadia laughs and calls the week's guest: Ihsaan, a compliance and anti-money-laundering expert. "Wallets, bangles and gold," he says. "Three different doors into Bangladesh. Each door has its own lock, and the bank holds some of the keys."
This lesson covers O-9 to O-11, the last paragraphs of Part O.
Purchase of foreign currency from digital wallets of incoming tourists/passengers
In plain words
O-9 brings digital wallets into the picture for visitors.
(1) Where we are today. Incoming tourists and passengers can use their international cards at points of sale (POS) for shopping, and draw Taka cash at ATMs. ADs handle these with global card settlement platforms, which credit the AD's nostro accounts with the equivalent foreign currency for the Taka paid out. Payment by digital wallets, as a cashless medium, is growing worldwide.
(2) The new service. ADs may provide acquiring services for visitors who bring money through digital wallets. For the partners abroad who settle these payments, the circular sets these rules:
(a) ADs shall have standing arrangements with internationally recognized digital wallet providers, OPGSPs and/or aggregators operating in multiple countries. The circular calls them foreign payment service providers (PSPs);
(b) ADs shall keep foreign currency accounts or Taka accounts for these foreign PSPs, under paragraph 1(i), chapter 13 and paragraph 8(b), chapter 14 of GFET-2018, Vol-1, and later circulars;
(c) ADs shall collect payment by debiting those accounts, and have adequate technology to serve visitors;
(d)overdrafts on those accounts are allowed only if the AD holds payment guarantees from banks acceptable to it, for adequate amounts based on the transaction flows.
(3) What the visitor gets. The AD buys foreign currency from the visitor's wallet by:
(i) paying the equivalent Taka in cash; and/or
(ii) issuing a one-time prepaid card in Taka for the stay.
ADs also arrange local payments through POS under merchant arrangements with shops. Reconversion of unspent Taka (under paragraph 9, chapter 12 of GFET-2018 and later circulars) can be made by crediting the foreign PSP's account.
(4) Care and reporting. ADs must do due diligence on their transactions with the foreign PSPs, follow foreign exchange and AML/CFT rules and other laws, and report to Bangladesh Bank as usual. A debit to the foreign PSP's account under (2)(b) counts as an inward remittance for travel-related receipts, "and vice versa". The circular doesn't spell out "vice versa" further; it reads as money moving the other way being treated the other way round.
Ihsaan's picture: "The foreign PSP keeps a purse at the bank. When Lukas pays from his phone, the bank takes from that purse and hands Lukas Taka."
At the desk
Lukas's wallet provider is an internationally recognized foreign PSP, and Rakib's bank has a standing arrangement with it and keeps an account for it. Lukas sells USD 200 from his wallet. The bank debits the foreign PSP's account, gives Lukas part in Taka cash and loads the rest on a one-time prepaid Taka card for his stay. Sadia notes that the debit is reported as an inward remittance on account of travel-related receipts. Ihsaan adds that the bank must exercise due diligence on its transactions with the PSP: "Every wallet payment is still a foreign exchange transaction."
Key words
Digital wallet
An app that holds payment details or money, so a person can pay with a phone.
Foreign PSP
Under O-9, an internationally recognized digital wallet provider, OPGSP or aggregator operating in multiple countries, with which an AD has a standing arrangement.
Acquiring service
The service an acquiring bank gives a seller: accepting card or digital-wallet payments that customers make, online or in shops, and bringing the money to the seller's account.
Point of sale (POS)
The card machine or terminal in a shop where a customer pays.
Nostro account
A bank's own account, in foreign currency, held with a bank in another country.
Overdraft
Permission for an account to pay out more than it holds, so the balance goes below zero for a time.
Reconversion
Changing unspent Taka back into foreign currency.
AML/CFT
Anti-Money Laundering / Combating the Financing of Terrorism rules.
Read the rule as written (Para O-9)
(1) Incoming tourists/passengers can use their international cards brought in with them in Points of Sales (POS) for shopping. ATM booths facilitate them to draw cash in Taka by use of their cards. ADs execute the transactions in association with global card transaction settlement platforms with linkage arrangement to credit in nostro accounts by equivalent foreign currency against the payment in Taka. In addition to cards, payment through digital wallets as cashless medium are found growing worldwide.
(2) To facilitate the transactions for incoming tourists/passengers bringing money through digital wallets, ADs may provide acquiring services to facilitate their transactions while visiting Bangladesh. With regards to arrangement of counterparties abroad for the settlement of payment against transactions to be captured from digital wallets, ADs shall observe the following instructions:
(a) ADs shall have standing arrangements with internationally recognized digital wallet service providers/Online Payment Gateway Service Providers (OPGSPs) and/or aggregators having operation in multiple countries (hereinafter referred to as foreign payment service providers, PSPs)
(b) Under the arrangement with foreign PSPs, ADs shall maintain foreign currency accounts or Taka accounts in terms of paragraph 1(i), chapter 13; paragraph 8(b), chapter 14 of GFET-2018, Vol-1; and subsequent circulars.
(c) ADs shall realize payments by debit the accounts maintained as per (b) above and arrange transaction facilities to incoming tourists/passengers for which ADs shall have adequate technological supports.
(d) Overdraft facilities will be allowed for the accounts so maintained in Bangladesh provided that ADs shall have payment guarantees, from banks acceptable to them, for the adequate amounts based on the transaction flows.
(3) In accordance with the above arrangement, ADs shall purchase foreign currency from wallets of incoming tourists/passengers by (i) making payments in equivalent Taka in cash and/or (ii) issuance of one time prepaid cards in Taka during their stay in Bangladesh. In addition, ADs shall arrange local transactions through POS under merchant arrangements with concerned vendors. Reconversion facility in terms of paragraph 9, chapter 12 of GFET-2018 and subsequent circulars can be made through credit to the respective accounts of foreign PSPs so maintained.
(4) ADs shall exercise due diligence in respect of the transactions with foreign PSPs and comply with the foreign exchange regulations, AML/CFT regulations and relevant laws/regulations in force. As usual, ADs shall observe reporting routine to Bangladesh Bank. In this context, debit to accounts maintained as per 2(b) above shall be treated as inward remittance on account of travel related receipts and vice versa.
Source: Bangladesh Bank, FEPD-1 Circular No. 30, 13 August 2026, Part O, paragraph 9 (page 42). The original circular is the authority.
O-10 is short and generous. Bangladesh Bank has given general permission to all incoming adult female passengers to bring into Bangladesh any quantity of personal jewellery:
worn on their persons; or
carried as part of their personal baggage.
Three words do the work: adult, female and personal. The jewellery is her own, for her own use, worn or in her luggage.
O-10 doesn't define "adult" or "personal jewellery", and it doesn't speak about other travellers or about customs duty. It is a permission under Bangladesh Bank's rules; this lesson doesn't add to it.
At the desk
Rakib's mother returns from the wedding wearing her gold bangles and with a necklace in her suitcase. Ihsaan confirms that O-10 gives general permission to all incoming adult female passengers to bring any quantity of personal jewellery worn on their persons or in their personal baggage. "Personal is the key word," he says. "A suitcase full of chains for a shop is not personal jewellery."
Key words
General permission
Permission that Bangladesh Bank has already given in the rules to everyone in a stated group, so no one in that group needs to apply case by case.
Personal baggage
A traveller's own luggage, carried for personal use.
Read the rule as written (Para O-10)
Bangladesh Bank has accorded general permission to all incoming adult female passengers to bring into Bangladesh any quantity of personal jewellery worn on their persons or as part of their personal baggages.
Source: Bangladesh Bank, FEPD-1 Circular No. 30, 13 August 2026, Part O, paragraph 10 (page 43). The original circular is the authority.
O-11 follows jewellery in the other direction: gold coming in so that jewellery can go out. It matches the export circular's rules (Export Lesson 37, N-6 and N-7).
(1) Who exports, and the back-to-back route. Exporters registered with the office of the CCI&E may export gold and silver jewellery under the normal EXP procedure. ADs may open back-to-back import LCs for gold, silver and precious stones, to make and export jewellery, when:
the exporter is a registered jewellery exporter;
it operates under the bonded warehouse system;
it has received an export LC;
it meets the minimum domestic value addition in the Ministry of Commerce's Jewellery Export Policy: 10% for gold jewellery, 15% for stone-studded gold jewellery and 25% for silver jewellery.
Back-to-back imports may also be made against a firm export order, where the import costs are met out of advances from the foreign buyer, or the foreign buyer settles the import payment abroad directly. O-11(1) doesn't say whether the bonded-warehouse and value-addition conditions also apply to this firm-order route; the circular is the final word.
(2) How much must come home. If the foreign buyer prepays the imported inputs abroad, or they are paid from the buyer's advances, the exporter must repatriate export proceeds only to the extent of the local value addition. The total export value and the cost of imported inputs should be shown separately in the EXP form.
A small difference in wording: the export circular (N-7) asks ADs to keep these two figures as separate records during EXP reporting, while O-11(2) here says they should be shown separately in the EXP form. Both keep the two figures apart; the circulars are the final word.
At the desk
Rumi's workshop is a registered jewellery exporter under the bonded warehouse system, and her buyer has sent an export LC for stone-studded gold earrings. She asks Sadia for a back-to-back import LC for gold and stones. Sadia checks that the order meets the 15% minimum domestic value addition for stone-studded gold jewellery before Rakib prepares the LC. On a second order, the buyer will pay for the gold directly abroad, so Rumi only needs to bring home the local value addition, with the total export value and the cost of imported inputs shown separately in the EXP form.
Key words
CCI&E
Office of the Chief Controller of Imports and Exports. Issues trade registrations (ERC, IRC) and public notices.
Back-to-back LC
An import LC opened on the strength of an export LC, common in garments.
Bonded warehouse system
A customs arrangement under which an export-oriented factory keeps its imported inputs in a licensed warehouse under customs watch, to be used for making export goods.
Domestic value addition
The part of an export's value that is added inside Bangladesh, such as local work, skill and materials, rather than imported.
Firm export order
A confirmed order from a buyer abroad, rather than an enquiry or a quotation.
Read the rule as written (Para O-11)
(1) Export of gold jewellery and silver jewellery from Bangladesh may be effected by exporters registered with the office of the CCI&E as per normal EXP procedure. Back to back import LCs may be established by ADs for import of gold, silver and precious stones for manufacture and export of jewellery against export LCs received by registered jewellery exporters operating under the bonded warehouse system, subject to observance of the minimum domestic value addition requirement prescribed in the Jewellery Export Policy formulated by the Ministry of Commerce [10(ten) percent for gold jewellery, 15(fifteen) percent for stone- studded gold jewellery and 25(twenty five) percent for silver jewellery]. Back to back imports may also be effected against firm export orders in cases where import costs are met out of advances received by the exporter from the foreign buyer, or where the import payment is settled abroad directly by the foreign buyer.
(2) If the cost of imported inputs is prepaid abroad by the foreign buyer or met out of advances received from the foreign buyer, exporters shall be required to repatriate export proceeds to the extent of the local value addition only. In such cases, the total export value and the cost of imported inputs should be shown separately in the EXP form.
Source: Bangladesh Bank, FEPD-1 Circular No. 30, 13 August 2026, Part O, paragraph 11 (page 43). The original circular is the authority.
So far: ADs may provide acquiring services so that incoming tourists can turn digital-wallet money into Taka, through standing arrangements with foreign PSPs whose accounts the AD keeps and debits, paying Taka cash or one-time prepaid Taka cards, with overdrafts only against acceptable bank guarantees, reconversion by crediting the PSP's account, due diligence, AML/CFT checks, and reporting of debits as travel-related inward remittances. All incoming adult female passengers may bring in any quantity of personal jewellery, worn or in their baggage. ADs may open back-to-back import LCs for gold, silver and stones against export LCs received by registered jewellery exporters under the bonded warehouse system, if the minimum domestic value addition (10%, 15% or 25%) is met; back-to-back imports may also be made against firm export orders where the buyer's advances meet the import costs or the buyer settles the import payment abroad. When the buyer pays for the inputs, only the local value addition must come home, with the export value and input cost shown separately in the EXP form.
Next: Lesson 38, Counterpart funds: depositing the Taka on time, opens Part P, the last Part of the import circular.
Check yourself
30 questions, in 3 sets of up to 10. Nobody sees your answers but you.
Set 1 of 3
O-9(1): ATM booths facilitate incoming tourists/passengers to draw cash in Taka by use of their cards. (O-9)
O-9(2): ADs may provide acquiring services to facilitate their transactions while visiting Bangladesh. (O-9)
O-9(2)(a) requires standing arrangements with internationally recognized digital wallet service providers/OPGSPs and/or aggregators operating in multiple countries (foreign PSPs). (O-9)
O-9(2)(b): ADs shall maintain foreign currency accounts or Taka accounts in terms of paragraph 1(i), chapter 13 and paragraph 8(b), chapter 14 of GFET-2018, Vol-1, and subsequent circulars. (O-9)
O-9(2)(c): ADs shall realize payments by debit to the accounts maintained as per (b). (O-9)
O-9(2)(d): overdraft facilities will be allowed provided ADs have payment guarantees from banks acceptable to them for adequate amounts based on transaction flows. (O-9)
O-9(3): ADs purchase foreign currency from wallets by paying equivalent Taka in cash and/or issuing one-time prepaid cards in Taka. (O-9)
O-9(3): reconversion facility can be made through credit to the respective accounts of foreign PSPs. (O-9)
O-9(4): debit to accounts maintained as per 2(b) shall be treated as inward remittance on account of travel related receipts and vice versa. (O-9)
True. O-9(4) requires due diligence on transactions with foreign PSPs and compliance with foreign exchange and AML/CFT regulations. (O-9)
Set 2 of 3
O-9(3): ADs shall arrange local transactions through POS under merchant arrangements with concerned vendors. (O-9)
O-9(2)(c) and (3): the AD realizes payment by debiting the foreign PSP's account and pays equivalent Taka in cash and/or a one-time prepaid Taka card. (O-9)
O-9(2)(d) allows overdrafts provided ADs have payment guarantees from acceptable banks for adequate amounts based on transaction flows. (O-9)
O-9(4): ADs shall exercise due diligence in respect of transactions with foreign PSPs and comply with FX, AML/CFT and other relevant laws. (O-9)
O-10: general permission to all incoming adult female passengers. (O-10)
O-10 allows any quantity of personal jewellery worn on their persons or as part of personal baggage. (O-10)
O-10: personal jewellery worn on their persons or as part of their personal baggage. (O-10)
False. O-10 covers personal jewellery only. Gold jewellery for trade comes under O-6, through authorized gold dealers. (O-10)
O-10: general permission to all incoming adult female passengers to bring any quantity of personal jewellery worn on their persons or as part of personal baggage. (O-10)
O-11(1): export may be effected by exporters registered with the office of the CCI&E as per normal EXP procedure. (O-11)
Set 3 of 3
O-11(1): against export LCs received by registered jewellery exporters operating under the bonded warehouse system. (O-11)
O-11(1) gives 25% for silver jewellery. (O-11)
O-11(1) gives 15% for stone-studded gold jewellery. (O-11)
True. O-11(1) gives 10% for gold jewellery. (O-11)
O-11(1): back to back imports may be effected against firm export orders where import costs are met out of advances from the foreign buyer, or the import payment is settled abroad directly by the buyer. (O-11)
O-11(2): exporters shall repatriate export proceeds to the extent of the local value addition only. (O-11)
O-11(2): the total export value and the cost of imported inputs should be shown separately in the EXP form. (O-11)
O-11(1) sets 15% minimum domestic value addition for stone-studded gold jewellery. (O-11)
Under O-11(2), only the local value addition must be repatriated: USD 10,000 less the USD 8,500 of buyer-paid imported inputs leaves USD 1,500. (O-11)
False. O-11(1) speaks of registered jewellery exporters operating under the bonded warehouse system. (O-11)
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