The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has connected its ASYCUDA World customs system with Bangladesh Bank’s Foreign Exchange Transaction Management System (FXTMS) to enable real-time online verification of bank invoices. The integration was formally inaugurated by NBR Chairman Abdur Rahman Khan on Tuesday. According to NBR, customs officials will now be able to verify commercial invoices digitally without requiring hard copies.

Before this integration, banks had to submit certified commercial invoice hard copies to customs offices. Now, all invoice data will automatically transfer from the central bank’s FXTMS to the ASYCUDA system in real time. NBR stated that once the process is fully implemented, commercial invoices will be mandatorily attached to bills of entry. The initiative, jointly implemented by NBR and Bangladesh Bank with support from all commercial banks, marks a major step toward a paperless customs system.

The new connection is expected to reduce paperwork, curb revenue evasion, simplify and speed up import-export clearance, limit trade-based money laundering, and create a reliable database for product valuation.