In conversation with Jonathan Cressey, Head of Tax, Asia Pacific & Middle East, British American Tobacco

Please share a few words about yourself and your career.

I've been with British American Tobacco (BAT) for 18 years now, and have always been within the tax function. However, my background was not in Accounting. I have a PhD in Chemistry and always felt, that was my point of interest until a couple of years later, when I re-envisioned my life and retrained as an accountant. One great aspect of the UK education system is that certain universities allow you to build a career outside of the field you studied in, and so I grasped that opportunity. My career started in Price Waterhouse Coopers, and I later joined BAT in 2001 and have been working here ever since. BAT has been a fantastic place to work at. I have spent 13 years of my career in London, and then I've been posted in Hong Kong in my current role since 2014.

How are you liking Bangladesh? What has been your first impression of the country and its people?

Bangladesh has been in my juristic responsibility for five years now. I had always wanted to come here and work closely with the team. Throughout my time here, I have gotten to know the team really well and do wish to stay here longer.

My first impression is that the team here consists of exceptionally vibrant people, who are very energetic. It's a young bunch with a lot of potential and a desire to learn and improve, in search of a better future.

In Bangladesh, there are several mega projects going on that will help the country become fully functional. I am certain the metro rail and the new road systems being built will bring major improvements and sustainable revenue contribution from BAT Bangladesh will definitely help all the projects come into actualization. In my visit to Kushtia & Cox's Bazar, I have witnessed how strong the economic factors there are and how BAT Bangladesh can further contribute towards its journey in becoming a middle-income country soon.

Bangladesh relies on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to continue its growth. What, in your opinion, should be the areas of focus for Bangladesh?

FDI is critical for Bangladesh. FDI has improved over the last couple of years, particularly in the last 12 months, as it has seen a dramatic increase of 67.94 percent since 2017. It is fantastic to be able to attract that much investment. I think the challenge for Bangladesh is that in order to sustain that level of foreign investment, you need to possess a very stable and reliable regulatory tax environment that companies can rely on. They are all keen to invest in Bangladesh but when companies invest, they want some certainty over those investments. They want to make sure that there is some stable return over a sensible period. Bangladesh should try and create that certainty, and stick to the principles that it sets out when trying to attract FDI.

BAT Bangladesh just received the best taxpayers award. What does this mean for BAT Bangladesh?

It's a superb award and we are honoured to have received it.  On receiving the award, you obviously have to recognise that we have a very high degree of compliance; compliance is absolutely critical and fundamental to how we operate. It's not just our results, but what is more important is how we achieve them. We try to obtain results in the most sustained, professional way. Being a high tax payer in Bangladesh comes with a lot of responsibility to behave in the right way, and we are committed to do so. We completely ensure that we fulfill all the obligations to support the government in that role as well.

Since I have been here for over five years now, I have seen different levels of taxation and slightly different levels of tax systems.  Being recognised as the Higest Taxpayer in Bangladesh is eye-opening There's an income tax of 47.5 percent and one of the highest tobacco taxes in the world of 81 percent has put the industry under pressure. There is no long term taxation policy for sustainable revenue growth. This impacts both local and international operators.

We understand the government's need for revenue is very crucial to their growth, and their ambition to become a middle-income country in the future. BAT Bangladesh wants to work in partnership with the government to get the best results for the country and it is in our interest to grow further in order to be able to contribute sustainably. New sector needs to be included for sustainable revenue journey.

You have worked with a lot of Bangladeshis. How are Bangladeshi talents performing both here and abroad?

I think Bangladeshi people and BAT Bangladesh have done fantastically well outside of Bangladesh as well. I have been able to meet a number of intelligent, committed and energetic people and because of that, Bangladesh has been a big exporter of talent for BAT. I have met over 50 Bangladeshi people working throughout the organisation outside the country, in countries like Hong Kong, Sri Lanka and Japan. It is fantastic to see their energy integrated into the other countries that they work in. They are welcoming of different cultures and are quite open-minded, which makes them easier to work with.

You have a lot of experience in global business compliance standards. How well is Bangladesh doing in that metric?

BAT Bangladesh  is doing great in that metric. It has some of the best compliance practices in BAT globally. Because BAT Bangladesh is a large listed company in the country, it is under a lot of scrutiny all the time, so the importance to be 100 percent compliant is very important. At BAT, we have the highest standard of business conduct and this has led the company to achieve a number of accolades like the 'Top Employer', 'Best Corporate' and many more. Even from my tax specific perspective, it is absolutely fundamental to make sure our compliance goal is clear to all of the tax, laws and regulations and every territory that we operate in. They have demonstrated that they go above and beyond to make sure that they achieve that.

The interview was taken by Maureen Nawer of The Daily Star.