The remote regions of the country has had a MFS revolution in last ten years
The closing ceremony of the 10th anniversary programme of mobile financial service in Bangladesh was held in Dhaka on Saturday with the hope of making instant financial transactions easier and safer, and expanding financial inclusion.
Ten years past the advent of mobile financial services (MFS), over 11 crore account holders now conduct 2 crore transactions through it per day.
Dutch Bangla Bank appeared first in March 2011 with its “DBBL Mobile”, later rebranded “Rocket”. Brac Bank came second in June 2011 with bKash. One year later, the duo had only 4 lakh customers.
Today MFS operators register Tk 2,300 crore in average daily transactions, employing 11.23 lakh agents.
These Bangladesh Bank data would have been higher if Nagad’s could be included. Launched in 2019, Bangladesh Post Office’s MFS arm is yet to get a full-fledged licence.
The services available has grown gradually.
Now it is possible to top-up mobiles, pay at shops and e-commerce platforms, utility bills and various educational institution fees, transfer money among banks, send remittance, receive education stipends and many more.
In a major move, bKash and City Bank offered the country’s first collateral-free and instant digital nano loan.
Safety net disbursements were also initiated in May 2020 right after the pandemic hit. In 2021 this money stood at about Tk 14,000 crore.
“…during the pandemic…from megacities to remote char areas, low-income people have benefitted,” said Atiur Rahman, former governor of Bangladesh Bank, on Saturday.
“…our focus was to ensure low-cost and accessible digital financial services to the low-income people living in the remote areas,” he told an event.
Unayan Shamannay and Knowledge Alliance organised the event on the former’s premises to share the findings of a study on the 10 years of MFS in Bangladesh.
Low-income customers from char areas have opened the MFS accounts in great numbers amidst the pandemic to avail government cash transfers, the study found.
This was mainly due to the government decision to send cash transfers via the MFS.
Consequently, confidence of the char customers has significantly increased and people in remote areas were increasingly paying their electricity bills and receiving remittances through the MFS, it said.
Khondoker Sakhawat Ali, founder of Knowledge Alliance, said half of the MFS accounts remain dormant as many of those were opened primarily to receive the cash transfers.
He said operators have to come up with ways to encourage use of those accounts for other purposes.
“It is very much possible to advance towards a ‘cashless society’ though effective utilisation of the MFS,” said economist Ahsan H Mansur.
At another event at a city hotel to celebrate the MFS decade, Abul Kashem Md Shirin, managing director of Dutch Bangla Bank, said the fund withdrawal costs would come down once the commission of agents and distributors were reduced.
He said the platform consisting of all 13 MFS providers which had organised the celebration should find a way to reduce service charges.
The 13 are bKash, Rocket, mCash, upay, Trust Axiata Pay (tap), MY Cash, TeleCash, Tap ‘n Pay, FSIBL, Rupali Bank, OK wallet, Islamic Wallet and Nagad.
Kamal Quadir, chief executive of bKash, said: “Gradually people are adopting mobile money. People are buying airtime, people are paying utility bill, paying fees. So things are moving towards a direction where transaction cost would not be an issue.”
He sought government policy support to take the MFS to the next level.
Bangladesh Bank Governor Fazle Kabir said there was a need for healthy competition among the 13 MFS providers. He appreciated them in making services available in remote areas.
“Financial inclusion is inclusive economic development and the MFS is playing a vital role for financial inclusion,” he said.
He called upon the MFS operators to shun propaganda against one another to ensure proper competition.
Education Minister Dipu Moni said the MFS providers make lives easier and improve livelihoods.
She said thousands of students were receiving stipends through the MFS, which was encouraging mothers to send their children to school.
State Minister for ICT Zunaid Ahmed Palak said the government has a plan to bring everyone under cashless transactions.
– Input from The Daily Star was used in this article
