The central bank governor Dr Atiur Rahman yesterday asked the anti money laundering cell of insurance companies to strictly comply with rules and monitor the suspicious transactions to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing He also suggested the cell to send the report of suspicious transactions, if any, immediately to the central bank for prompt action. He, however, said money laundering and terrorist financing is not an internal problem, rather it’s a global concern.
The governor was addressing a conference on ‘Anti Money Laundering for Insurance Companies’ at a city hotel on Sunday. Bangladesh Bank (BB) and Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority (IDRA) jointly organised the conference.
Mere law can not check the problem of money laundering and terrorist financing, said the governor stressing the need for a joint effort of all concerned to fight against money laundering and terror financing form the country. He also highlighted the urgency for ensuring transparency and accountability in the country’s financial sector with a view to preventing money laundering and terrorist financing.
To reinforce the vigilance against money laundering and terrorist financing, the central bank has already introduced the software 'goAML', said Atiur. 
At present all banks, non-bank financial institutions and agencies submit cash transaction reports to the central bank through this software which, he said, helps the authority identify the suspicious transactions.
Addressing as the special guest, Banks and Financial Institutions Division (BFID) of Finance Ministry Secretary Dr M Aslam Alam said the country has enough rules and regulations but proper implementation of those are not satisfactory. 
The policy makers are formulating laws one after another but somehow these are not exercised accordingly, claimed the secretary.
“Vested groups are very active and commit crimes whenever they find any chance, so we have to be alert to check the ill practice. We can not stop the happenings, but it is possible to check or reduce the offences”, said the finance secretary. 
He expected that the joint initiative could reduce the crime substantially. 
The country’s economy is now well connected with the global economy and it needs to attain the trust of the global society for further development, said the secretary. 
To get confidence of the global society, BFID secretary said, the central bank has already taken several initiatives to check the money laundering and terrorist financing from the year 2008. 
The risk of the money laundering and the terror financing is reduced substantially due to strict monitoring by central bank and BFID. 
The secretary underscored the need for automation of country’s insurance sector immediately to identify the suspicious transactions. 
He also suggested to install modern financial software to prevent the fake and suspicious transactions.
The conference was addressed among others by the Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor Abu Hena Md 
Razi Hassan, Bangladesh Insurance Association President Shiek Kabir Hossain and Member of IDRA Md Quddus Khan. 
The IDRA Chairman M Shefaque Ahmed presided over the anti money laundering conference.