\\\'96pc of BD mobile banking agents profitable\\\'

About 96 per cent of the country's mobile banking agents are profitable, according to an international survey report revealed Monday.
Only 4 per cent agents are reportedly making loss or at breakeven, compared to 17 per cent in Kenya, where the global leader in digital finance - M-Pesa - operates, 14 per cent in Uganda, and 5 per cent in Tanzania.
About 57 per cent of the country's total mobile banking agents have got involved in the business during the last one year, which shows a very fast expansion of mobile banking network here.
The Helix Institute of Digital Finance, a global operational training provider for digital finance practitioners, uncovered the 'Agent Network Accelerator Survey: Bangladesh Country Report 2014' at a city hotel.
MicroSave, an international financial inclusion consulting firm, conducted the survey on the basis of 2,490 agent interviews in this March-April, and Helix disseminated its findings. Denny George, a specialist of MicroSave, made a presentation on the findings.
Dasgupta Asim Kumar, former executive director of Bangladesh Bank, was the chief guest of the programme, attended, among others, by Abul Kashem Md. Shirin, deputy managing director of Dutch Bangla Bank Ltd (DBBL).
According to the survey, "Some 86 per cent of the agents foresee themselves continuing as agents in a year, indicating high level of their satisfaction."
The survey, however, finds that over-the-counter (OTC) transactions became widespread in the country, though against the existing regulations, and account opening for customers is a low priority for agents.
"To combat the OTC trade, the regulators have put in place transaction limit on mobile money accounts," it cited.
Mr George said a gap in regulatory compliance might result in the OTC transactions.
The report finds that Bangladesh created many unique systems for agent network management that are yielding world-class results.
The high-level of mobile banking agents' profitability in the country is due to the low operational expense of running an agent-ship, primarily driven by the fact that over 90 per cent of the agents have pre-existing and alternative businesses, it opines.
Almost all the agents (96 per cent) in Bangladesh are non-dedicated or they have other income sources in addition to digital financial services. The ratio is 54 per cent in Kenya, 30 per cent in Tanzania, and 56 per cent in Uganda.
The report, however, finds that 49 per cent of the agents are dissatisfied with the commissions they receive, and non-exclusivity is likely to become the norm unless agent revenues go up significantly.
'bKash' having half of the market share is the dominant provider, followed by DBBL (28 per cent), and other providers are also building their networks quickly. The majority of agents (56 per cent) are now non-exclusive (who work for more than one service providers), as per the findings.
The rate of non-exclusive agents in Kenya is 4 per cent, 72 per cent in Tanzania, and 29 per cent in Uganda.
The survey also highlights some other important points, like - risks for fraud, and untapped opportunities for Bangladesh's mobile banking.
Mr Dasgupta Asim Kumar said the current number of agents in mobile financial services is almost 0.5 million, and its growth rate is about 5 per cent.
In September 2014, the number of clients crossed 20 million, total number of transactions was 54 million, and growth rate was 17 per cent. The transaction volume was Tk 100 billion, with 35 per cent growth over the previous month, he also said.
He hoped that the report findings, including the highlighted problems and prospects, will help all the concerned.
The survey was conducted as part of a four-year research project in eight countries - Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda - under Agent Network Accelerator (ANA) Project with financial support from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).
Helix was founded in 2013 following a partnership between MicroSave, BMGF, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF).
The survey data was collected employing a random route methodology based on agent census data presented on the map. The samples covered 38 per cent in district headquarters, 35 per cent in thana headquarters, 23 per cent in metro political areas, and 4 per cent in villages.

md.ali.du@gmail.com