Staff Correspondent
Cash Link Bangladesh, a company formed by a group of banks and Euronet Worldwide, has decided to set up 855 Automated Teller Machines (ATM) across the country in the next two years, officials said.
“We will set up 350 ATMs in 2009 and 505 in 2010,” Syed Masodul Bari, Head of IT of Al-Arafah Islami Bank Ltd, which is one of the partner banks of the project, said.
Besides, Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited (DBBL) is going to install another 150 Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) by February, taking the number of its ATMs to 500, the bank high officials said.
“At present, we have 350 ATMs across the country and we are ready to install another 150 by February this year,” said Abul Kashem Md Shirin, Deputy Managing Director of DBBL.
The DBBL runs the largest network of ATMs with its existing booths. The expansion will not only enrich the network but also help customers get online delivery payment services at convenient locations, the bank officials said.
DBBL, the Bangladesh-European joint venture bank, also plans to install another 350 ATMs across the country by the end of 2009. “This is because Bangladesh has huge potential in expansion of the ATM network, with increasing demand for the services,” Abul Kashem said.
Credit cards and debit cards are considered plastic money, an alternative to cash.
The use of plastic money is gaining popularity in Ban-gladesh. More and more people in Bangladesh now prefer plastic money to cash.
People do not want to spend hours standing in long queues to withdraw cash. They now choose the shortest possible means of acquiring cash and at any time of the day. The ATM services of banks and other financial institutions provide all these facilities for customers.
Currently, there are about 700 ATM booths across the country. Apart from DBBL, the other major ATM market players are BRAC Bank, Standard Char-tered Bank, Eastern Bank, Prime Bank and HSBC.
With the ATM cards, any one can carry out most of his/her personal banking transactions 24-hours a day, 365 days a year.
Courtesy: thebangladeshtoday.com
