Online Transaction
Banks must give clients instant SMS, email
Bangladesh Bank is going to make mandatory for the scheduled banks to provide the clients with instant alert service with short text message and email on every online transaction, said officials of the central bank. The BB has already asked the banks to take necessary measures in this regard within the shortest possible time as it (central bank) would bring all online transactions under the SMS and email service by December 31, a BB official told New Age on Wednesday.
The BB has taken the initiative when the country’s banking sector witnessed that some frauds had misappropriated huge amount of money by embezzling credit card and debit card of the clients over the last few months.
Under the circumstances, the central bank is going to make mandatory for the banks to send instant SMS and email to the client’s mobile phone and email addresses on every transaction with ATM, POS and internet banking to check the forgery cases in the online transactions, the official said.
Only a few banks are now providing the clients with the instant alert service on every transaction.
To this end, the BB held a meeting with the senior officials of all scheduled banks on October 8 at the central bank headquarters asking them to complete all required measures by December this year, he said.
The BB may issue a circular to the banks by the mid-December to make the instant alert service mandatory for the banks on every online transaction, he said.
The officials of the scheduled banks at the meeting said that the existing SMS service charge of the mobile phone operators was higher which would not be viable for the banks if they had to send SMS on every online transaction.
Under the circumstances, the BB will hold a meeting with the BTRC in November so that it would ask the mobile operators to decrease the SMS service charge particularly for the banks, he said.
The BB will make a proposal to the BTRC to set an SMS service charge between 25 paisa and 10 paisa instead of the existing charge between Tk 1 and 50 paisa, he said.
Besides, the BB asked the banks to take initiative to hold a discussion between the Association of Bankers, Bangladesh and the BTRC in this regard, he said.
Southeast Bank vice-president (card division) Abdus Sabur Khan told New Age on Wednesday that his bank was now sending instant SMS to the client’s mobile phone when a transaction is completed with a bank’s credit card.
Southeast Bank gives between Tk 1 and 50 paisa to the mobile operators for every SMS.
In accordance with the BB directives, Southeast Bank has already taken initiatives to provide the clients with the instant alert service on every transaction with ATM by mid-November.
-With New Age input
