M K Alam ; Dhaka – While the banking sector in Bangladesh continues to grapple with a severe liquidity crisis, deposits by Bangladeshis in Swiss banks have witnessed a massive spike.
In 2025, deposits held by Bangladeshi individuals and banks in Switzerland surged by 41%, reaching 834.2 million Swiss Francs (CHF)—equivalent to approximately 12,763 crore BDT.
The annual banking statistics released yesterday by the Swiss National Bank (SNB) revealed these alarming figures.
A Source of Concern for Economists
Economists and financial analysts have expressed deep concern over this sudden spike, especially since the former interim government had initiated various measures to recover laundered money from abroad.
According to experts, political transitions and the continuous loopholes allowing capital flight have renewed the interest in park money in Swiss accounts.
Analysts warn that the monumental surge in bank-level deposits strongly hints at money laundering disguised as foreign investment or trade financing (import-export invoicing).
The Second-Highest Record in History
The 2025 deposit figure stands as the second-highest in the history of Bangladesh. Previously, in 2021, Bangladeshi deposits in Swiss banks peaked at an all-time high of 871.1 million CHF.
Although the numbers declined consecutively for the next two years, they began rising again in 2024 and took a massive leap in 2025.
In 2024, the total deposits stood at 590 million CHF. Within just one year, the figure jumped by nearly 244 million CHF (around 3,600 crore BDT).
Dr. Zahid Hussain, former Lead Economist of the World Bank’s Dhaka office, noted:
“If this money had not been laundered out of the country, it would have been invested somewhere domestically. Even if it wasn’t directly invested, keeping it in local banks would have allowed those banks to disburse loans, boosting national production. This capital is now completely useless to our economy.”
Dr. Moinul Islam, former Professor of the Economics Department at Chittagong University, added:
“The latest data from the Swiss National Bank clearly indicates that money laundering from Bangladesh has not decreased at all. People expected capital flight to slow down after the political landscape shifted on August 5, 2024, but reality shows otherwise. If the current government does not immediately enforce a zero-tolerance policy against money laundering syndicates, escaping this severe economic crisis will be nearly impossible.”
Banks as the Primary Source of the Surge
An analysis of the SNB data reveals that almost the entire growth in deposits originated from Bangladeshi banking institutions rather than individual accounts.
In 2025, the funds kept by Bangladeshi banks in Swiss accounts reached 822.7 million CHF—a 43% increase from the previous year’s 576.6 million CHF.
This means institutional banking deposits now make up 98.6% of the total Bangladeshi wealth in Swiss banks, compared to 97.8% in 2024, 20% in 2023, and 35% in 2021.
Conversely, private individual accounts saw a decline, dropping from 12.6 million CHF in 2024 to 11.4 million CHF in 2025.
Bankers explain that these institutional funds are typically not private hoards but operational funds held in foreign banks for international banking, trade settlement, and maximizing yields.
Hidden Wealth Beyond the Data
Experts point out that the SNB report only covers formally declared assets and liabilities held by Swiss banks. If a Bangladeshi citizen deposits money using a passport from another country, through offshore shell companies, or via third-country citizenship, those funds are not recorded as Bangladeshi deposits.
Furthermore, the data does not account for physical gold, valuables, or assets hidden under trust funds. Therefore, economists believe the actual volume of laundered Bangladeshi wealth in Switzerland is likely far higher than the officially declared amount.
Bangladesh Ranks Second in South Asia
The SNB report indicates that India leads South Asian nations with 3.2 billion CHF in Swiss bank deposits, despite experiencing an 8% decline compared to the previous year.
Bangladesh follows in second place with its 834.2 million CHF. Afghanistan also saw a notable surge of 48.2% in deposits, though its total volume remains relatively small at 4.7 million CHF.
The Myth of Swiss Banking Secrecy
While Switzerland was once synonymous with absolute banking secrecy, international pressure over the last decade has forced the country to adopt transparency. Since 2018, Switzerland has shared financial data globally under the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) framework, currently exchanging account details with over 100 nations.
Under this framework, information such as the account holder’s name, address, tax identification number, and account balance is automatically sent to the tax authorities of their home country. Neighboring India and Pakistan are already part of this network. However, Bangladesh has yet to join the AEOI framework, missing out on automatic data sharing.
The Central Bank of Switzerland publishes this aggregated country-wise data annually under “Banks in Switzerland” to protect basic consumer privacy, meaning individual account names or specific bank details are never publically disclosed.
Bangladesh Bank has routinely stated in the past that normal banking transactions between Bangladesh and Switzerland for import-export purposes should not be misconstrued entirely as money laundering.