Bangladesh Bank on Tuesday introduced a school banking policy in a bid to disseminate financial inclusion across the country and encourage the students to develop a habit of saving money.
To this end, the BB on the day issued a circular to managing directors and chief executive officers of all the scheduled banks saying that students aged between 6 and 12 years would be able to open an account with a bank under the school banking policy.
The parents or the legal guardians of the students will operate the accounts that could be opened with an initial deposit of Tk 100, the BB circular added.
Both the student and his/her guardian will have to fill up the ‘uniform account opening form’ to open the account.
Besides, they (students and their guardians) will also have to fill up the ‘know your customer’ form.
‘The student accounts will be opened as savings accounts. Besides, the accounts will be converted to a savings scheme,’ said the circular.
The account holders and their guardians will have to be Bangladeshi citizens.
The scheduled banks will check the legality of the deposits to the school banking accounts and the transactions, said the circular.
The banks will be able to issue debit cards against the school banking accounts and a guardian of an account holder can withdraw a maximum of Tk 2,000 through ATM booths or points of sale in a given month.
The banks, however, may increase the withdrawal limit to Tk 5,000 if a guardian requests.
The banks will have to send a text message to the mobile phone of the account holder’s guardian after every transaction is done whether it’s an ATM or a POS.
Students may pay their fees through the account if the bank has an agreement with the school.
The banks can also set up separate desks and counters at their branches to encourage the students to open accounts.
On particular days, the banks can also open a booth on the schools premises in discussion with the authorities.
All kinds of scholarships would be deposited to a student’s respective account, the circular added.
The banks can also provide education insurance to the account holders so that the students could get financial support from the banks should they plunge into a crisis.
The banks will have to submit a report to the Green Banking and CSR department of the BB on a quarterly basis. The first report — that of the October-December quarter — will have to be submitted by January 15, 2014.
The school banking accounts will be converted into general savings accounts when the students
go past 18 and if they are willing.
-With New Age input
