The digital and paperless banking sector in Bangladesh continued to thrive in October 2023, with an increase in the prevalence of ATMs, POS terminals and CRMs.
Scheduled banks facilitate financial transactions by establishing branches, ATM, POS, CDM and CRMs in urban and rural areas of the country.
According to data from the Bangladesh Bank (BB), there was an increase of six scheduled bank branches in the month.
The number of the Automated Teller Machine (ATM) booths increased to 13,655 in October, up from 13,623 in September last year.
The volume of ATM transactions exceeded Tk 275.26 billion in October, compared to Tk 250.67 billion in the previous month.
This reflects a 9.81-percent increase in transaction volume for the month.
The number of ATM booths in rural areas till October was 4,044, which is nearly 30 per cent of the total 13,655 booths across the country.
The total population stood at 169.82 million, according to Population and Housing Census 2022 done under the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) of Bangladesh.
On an average, 15,111 people receive financial services from one branch and 12,437 people receive digital financial services from one ATM, according to the central bank data.
In October, transactions conducted through Cash Recycling Machines (CRMs) installed by banks in the country increased by more than 2.49 per cent, reaching Tk 108.84 billion compared to over Tk 106.13 billion recorded in September.
This CRMs offer clients with convenient options for instant money deposition, withdrawal and transfers.
The data show that the cash transfer at the points of sale (POS) of the banks and financial institutions also increased significantly to Tk 31.01 billion in October, maintaining a nearly 10-percent growth compared to September.
The volume of transaction stood at Tk 28.14 billion in September, according to the BB data.
POS is a system which is operated by a machine in the shops to tap the banks/financial institutions' debit or credit card for transferring money to make payment for shopping.
According to the BB data, the number of Cash Deposit Machines (CDMs) in the country decreased to 285 in October from 289 in September.
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