Board attributes and anti-money laundering disclosure in the banking industry of Bangladesh

The nature of the board is one of the major factors that might influence corporate disclosure practices. This study aimed to explore the board attributes that influenced the Anti-Money Laundering Disclosures (AMLD) of the listed commercial banks in the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE). This research was conducted based on the secondary data (published annual reports of listed commercial banks) publicly available in Bangladesh. Here mortem data were used to explore the voluntary reporting practices of Anti-Money Laundering issues in Bangladesh. It was found that the professional’s inclusion on the board and foreign members on the board had significantly influenced the AMLD. This study did not explore all the components of the corporate governance practices rather it focused only on the influence of the board attributes over the Anti-Money Laundering Disclosures. The results of the study help the business entity to reshape its board composition to accelerate the Anti-Money Laundering movements in Bangladesh. However, policy makers may have the idea to identify the most significant board attributes that caused the disclosure of more Anti-Money Laundering information in public visibility. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is a unique study in Bangladesh that adds value in designing the board composition which might entice organizations to disclose more Anti-Money Laundering information in the context of the emerging economy – Bangladesh.