The rapid growth of mobile phone users and countrywide coverage of mobile operator’s network has made their delivery channel an important tool-of-the-trade for extending banking services to the unbanked/banked population, especially to expedite faster delivery of remittances across the country. From legal and regulatory perspective, only the bank-led model is allowed to operate in Bangladesh.
Approved Mobile Financial Services (in broad categories) are listed below –
- Disbursement of inward foreign remittances.
- Cash in /out using mobile account through agents/Bank branches/ ATMs/Mobile Operator’s outlets.
- Person to Business Payments - e.g. a. utility bill payments, b. merchant payments.
- Business to Person Payments e.g. salary disbursement, dividend and refund warrant payments, vendor payments, etc.
- Government to Person Payments e.g. elderly allowances. Freedom-fighter allowances, subsidies, etc.
- Person to Government Payments e.g. tax, levy payments.
- Person to Person Payments (One registered mobile Account to another registered mobile account).
- Other payments like microfinance, overdrawn facility, insurance premium, DPS, etc.
Bangladesh Bank has fixed the transaction limit for the account holders of mobile financial services at maximum Tk. 10,000 daily and a total of Tk. 25,000 on monthly basis vide DCMPS Circular No. - 10/2011 December 14, 2011. A holistic view of the MFS status as of June 2012 are given in the table below –
|
| No. of banks permitted |
: |
23 |
| Started MFS Operation |
: |
14 |
| Registered Customers |
: |
779,532 |
| Agents |
: |
18,581 |
| Transactions (billion Taka) |
: |
10.08 |
|
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