The central bank has sought opinions from stakeholders including banks on using mobile phone network for money transfer by September 10 next.
The central bank sought their opinions at a review meeting held at the central bank Tuesday with Bangladesh Bank (BB) Governor Salehuddin Ahmed in the chair, officials said.
The central bank took the move to expedite domestic money transfer with minimum charges particularly in the country's remote areas through mobile phone networks that would encourage the inflow of inward remittances.
At present, around 13 per cent people have bank accounts while 35 per cent people are now using mobile phone across the country, officials said, adding that the central bank thought that mobile phone would be easier for disbursing money than the banking channel.
To operate such services, the interested cell-phone companies will have to take licence from the central bank as a mobile payment services provider (MPSP), they added.
"We have already sent the draft policy on Bangladesh Mobile Payments Guidelines 2008 to all banks seeking their opinions," a senior official of BB told the FE.
He also said the central bank has sought opinions from the banks through Association of Banks, Bangladesh (ABB) within the stipulated timeframe.
"We have also sought opinions from the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (BTRC) in this connection," he added.
Many countries including the Philippines, Brazil, Kenya, South Africa and Pakistan have already allowed payment through mobile phone.
"The existing anti-money laundering rules and regulations will be complied with imposing a cap on the amount to be transferred under the proposed system," another BB official said.
Meanwhile, members of the ABB will sit shortly to discuss the matter in detail before submitting their final proposals to the central bank.
"We will submit our opinions in this connection within the timeframe to the central bank after discussion with our members," Chairman of the ABB K Mahmood Sattar told the FE.
Mr. Sattar, who also attended Tuesday's review meeting, also said that the bankers discussed the draft policy on Bangladesh Mobile Payments Guidelines 2008 and made some observations.
The meeting also discussed the draft regulations on payment settlement system aiming to modernise the existing payment system, the officials added.
Most of the mobile operators have already showed their interest to use their network for such money transferring business.
"GrameenPhone has already sought permission from the BB to use its network to transfer money," another BB official said.
