The amount of money transacted through agent banking exceeded the Tk 50,000-crore mark for the first time in January 2022 as the service has managed to expand its\u00a0reach in the country\u2019s rural areas.
\nThe Bangladesh Bank gave agent banking licence in 2014 with a view to bringing the unbanked people under the formal banking channel by taking the services to the\u00a0remote locations of Bangladesh.
\nAfter the formation of agent banking guidelines in 2013, Bank Asia launched the service in January 2014.
\nThe central bank has so far issued licence to 28 banks to run agent banking service. Of them, 26 banks are providing the service to the customers.
\nTransactions through agent banking accounts reached Tk 52,172.8 crore in January 2022 from Tk 49,139.3 crore in the previous month.
\nThe transaction was Tk 34,078.6 crore in January 2021 and Tk 18,584.2 crore in the same month a year ago.
\nOf the transactions, transactions in the rural areas stood at Tk 41,415.9 crore, accounting for 79.38 per cent of the total transactions through agent banking wing.
\nOn the other hand, transaction in the urban areas was Tk 10,756.9 crore, which is 20.62 per cent of the total transactions made through the agent banking.
\nAlong with the surge in transactions through agent banking wing of the banks, the number of agent banking accounts in the country reached almost 1.5-crore mark with\u00a0the number stood at 1.44 crore in January 2022.
\nIn January 2021, the number of agent banking accounts was 1.01 crore.
\nOf the accounts, 77.83 per cent or 81.91 lakh accounts were opened in the rural areas while the remaining 22.17 per cent or 23.33 lakh accounts were opened in the\u00a0urban areas.
\nIn terms of holding customer accounts, Bank Asia is leading all other banks while Dutch-Bangla Bank, Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited, Al-Arafah Islami Bank and Agrani\u00a0Bank are following suit.
\nFollowing the Covid outbreak in the country, agent banking has become more relevant as a concept as the banks opted to refrain from opening branches during the\u00a0outbreak to stay cost efficient.
\nThe number of agents and outlets of the banks also grew sharply in the last couple of years after the Covid outbreak.
\nThe number of agents of the banks rose by 76.45 per cent in the last two years to reach 14,081 in January 2022 from 7,980 in the same month of 2020.
\nBesides, the number of bank outlets increased by 69.83 per cent or 7,975 to 19,396 in January this year from 11,421 in the same month of 2020.
\nBankers said that the agent banking service was much effective during the pandemic when the banks were very busy with implementing the stimulus packages.
\nBesides, the cost involved in agent banking is far lower than opening a branch and that\u2019s why agent banking allows banks to gain a foothold in areas where it would not\u00a0become viable for the banks to have a presence by opening a branch, they said.
\nBesides, a segment of people do not get effective services from the branches due to their low transaction volumes and agent banking plays a vital role in fulfilling\u00a0the needs of these people, they said.
\nAlongside gaining a foothold in the rural areas through agent banking, the service allows the banks to strengthen their presence even in the urban areas, the bankers\u00a0said.
\nThough the transaction through agents reached new height, the banks\u2019 lending through agent banking dropped to Tk 455.5 crore in January 2022 from Tk 552.4 crore in the\u00a0previous month.
\nThe lending, however, in the last two years increased significantly from Tk 70.6 crore in January 2020.
\nOf the lending made in January, the banks disbursed Tk 287.8 crore for the rural areas against their disbursements of Tk 167.7 crore for the urban areas.
\nApart from the loan disbursement, the agent banking wings have also emerged as a cost-efficient way of deposit mobilisation for the banks with the volume of deposit\u00a0collection through agent banking reached Tk 24,003.0 crore in January 2022 from Tk 7,725.8 crore in the same month two years ago.<\/p>\n

-With New Age<\/strong> input<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The amount of money transacted through agent banking exceeded the Tk 50,000-crore mark for the first time in January 2022 as the service has managed to expand its\u00a0reach in the country\u2019s rural areas. The Bangladesh Bank gave agent banking licence in 2014 with a view to bringing the unbanked people under the formal banking channel … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[13880,1986],"yoast_head":"\n