18 banks connected with NPSB system

A total of 18 commercial banks have, so far, joined the National Payment Switch Bangladesh (NPSB) system, with having a daily interbank ATM transactions amounting to Tk 6 million.
Launched in late 2012 with participation of only three banks under the management of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), the NPSB is set to connect 22 more banks within the next three months, said a BB press release Thursday.
Under the network, a customer of any of the participating banks can withdraw money from the ATM booths owned by any of the banks.
The service charges Tk 10 per transaction to the customers for withdrawing money from other banks' ATMs; however, no extra fee is required for using own bank's ATMs in this connection.
To be connected with the NPSB, the interested banks need to attain certain technical and technological capacities; the 18 banks already became able to acquire such capabilities and get themselves connected with the system till July of 2014, said the BB press release.
The NPSB was actually launched aiming to give a boost to the plastic card-based electronic payments in the country.
Number of the participating banks and extent of the customers' services under the NPSB are being increased in phases, it said, adding that a web-based Dispute Management System (DMS) was already introduced in order to resolve the disputes aroused from the NPSB transactions.
Besides the ATM-based transactions, interbank POS (Point of Sales) transactions, cell phone and internet banking services are expected to be brought under the NPSB system in the future, added the BB press release.