Bangladeshis’ deposits in Swiss Banks surge 41pc in 1 year

The amount of money deposited by Bangladeshis in Swiss banks increased by nearly 41 per cent over the past year.

According to 2025 figures, Bangladeshi deposits in banks in Switzerland rose to 834.1 million Swiss francs, up from around 590 million Swiss francs in 2024.

The information was published today, Thursday, in the annual report of Switzerland’s central bank Swiss National Bank (SNB).

According to the report, 2025 recorded the highest level of Bangladeshi deposits in Swiss banks since 2021. It was also the second-highest amount deposited over the past decade.

Money held by Bangladeshis in Swiss banks is deposited in the names of both individuals and institutions. Many Bangladeshi banks also legally keep funds in Swiss banks.

In addition, Bangladeshis living in different countries around the world maintain deposits in Swiss banks.

Moreover, deposits made through Swiss banks’ overseas branches by Bangladeshis living in those countries are also counted as Bangladeshi deposits in Swiss banks. The Swiss central bank records such funds from different countries as liabilities in its financial statements. This means that not all money held in Swiss banks is illicitly transferred or laundered money.

The Swiss franc is not widely used in Bangladesh. At current exchange rates, one Swiss franc is worth around Tk 152 to Tk 153. Using an exchange rate of Tk 152 per Swiss franc, the Swiss bank report indicates that Bangladeshi deposits in Swiss banks stood at Tk 126.78 billion (12,678 crore) at the end of 2025.

According to the SNB report, the amount deposited by Bangladeshis in Swiss banks fell sharply for two consecutive years in 2022 and 2023.

Deposits during those years stood at 55 million Swiss francs and 17.5 million Swiss francs, respectively.

Former economics professor at University of Chittagong, Muinul Islam, told Prothom Alo, “It was expected that money laundering from the country would decline after the fall of the Awami League government on 5 August 2024. But these Swiss bank figures show that it has not decreased. This is not good for the economy at all. In my view, money is also laundered to many places around the world besides Swiss banks.”

According to Muinul Islam, the key issue now is to see what initiatives the current government takes not only to stop money laundering but also to recover laundered assets. Otherwise, money laundering will continue.

Following the student-led mass uprising in 2024, many ministers, MPs and businesspeople with close ties to the Awami League government left the country. Assets belonging to many of them were confiscated. It is believed that some may have transferred money from one country to another because of these developments.

At the same time, a white paper on the economy published under the former interim government revealed that huge sums of money had been smuggled out of Bangladesh during the previous administration. Some of those funds may also have found their way into Swiss banks through various channels.

At one time, Swiss banks were among the preferred destinations for holding laundered money because they did not share such information with other countries. Swiss banks were also outside the scope of international agreements related to money laundering. However, that situation has changed considerably in recent years.

Under various international agreements, Switzerland now provides information to governments upon request. As a result, there are now allegations that many people move money to other countries under the guise of legitimate business activities.