The first-ever mobile banking service in the country was launched on Thursday as a part of modernising the banking sector.
Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited launched the service in collaboration with mobile phone operators Banglalink and CityCell in the capital.
Primarily mobile banking will provide the clients with cash deposit, cash withdrawal, merchant payment, utility payment, salary disbursement, foreign remittance, and fund transfer services.
Nine other banks have also been licensed by the Bangladesh Bank to introduce mobile banking.
BB governor Atiur Rahman inaugurated the service through depositing money in and withdrawing cash from two DBBL-authorised mobile service centres at Naya Paltan and Purana Paltan areas in the city.
Though the services would be faster than other forms of banking services and would include the people even of the remote areas covered by the CityCell and Banglalink networks, it would also be a little more expensive for the users.
The users will have to pay a service charge of Tk 50 for depositing Tk 5,000 and Tk 100 to withdraw the same amount of money.
The service charge will be whichever amount is higher between Tk 5 and 1 pre cent of the deposited money at the cash-in end and whichever amount is higher between Tk 10 and 2 per cent of the money withdrawn from the cash-out end.
Any Banglalink or CityCell mobile user can register as a recipient of the service by paying a Tk 10 fee to any authorised agent point of the DBBL or any retailer of CityCell and Banglalink.
After registration, the users will be given a personal identification number and a check digit ranging from one to nine which will be added to his/her mobile number that will act as security measures. Every user will need his/her mobile set, check digit and PIN for making any transaction.
‘Customer’s money is safe as no one can withdraw money without taking possession of the mobile set, PIN and the check digit all together,’ DBBL managing director KS Tabrez told a press briefing held at a city hotel.
‘No one will be able to deposit unwanted money into a mobile banking account without knowing the check digit, although the mobile number is publicly known,’ he added.
The mobile banking is a part of digitalising the banking sector and the central bank’s plan to bring the masses under financial inclusion, the BB governor said at the briefing.
He termed the moment a milestone for the country’s banking sector in terms of financial services and expected that the service would be cost effective, creative, and secured.
Atiur said, ‘Mobile banking was part of the financial inclusion but the country’s banking sector was mostly based in the urban areas and the service would help in bringing the rural people into the banking service net.’
‘It will be a revolutionary step if at least 50 per cent of the current mobile phone subscribers can be brought under the mobile banking services,’ he added.
BB executive director Dasgupta Asim Kumar, DBBL board of directors executive chairman Syem Ahmed, Banglalink chief executive officer Ahmed Abou Doma, CityCell chief operating officer David Lee, DBBL deputy managing director Abul Kashem, and BTRC commissioner Monirul Alam also spoke on the occasion.
Courtesy of New Age
