Ekpay aims to ramp up services

A move is underway to enhance ekpay services as the national payment aggregator aims to facilitate digital financial services and ensure financial inclusion at grass-roots level in the country.
The digital payment platform will allow citizens to pay different types of bills, including utility, education services and government agencies' fees, using any payment channels.
To this effect, a daylong workshop titled 'Payment Ecosystem in Financial Services: Challenges and Way Forwards' organised by Aspire to Innovate (a2i) at the ICT division office on Thursday, said a statement on Friday.
Ekpay is a digital payment platform developed and run by a2i Programme of the ICT Division under the supervision of the Bangladesh Bank.
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Division Secretary Shish Haider Chowdhury attended the event as the chief guest while Policy Adviser of the ICT Division Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb as special guest.
Shish Haider Chowdhury said innovation in electronic payment system and integration of technologies is vital for making the country's payment ecosystem more people friendly and ensuring financial inclusion.
The ICT Division is coordinating activities with the central bank to enhance ekpay services as a national payment aggregator, he said.
"We are now trying to ensure that ekpay is properly promoted," he said.
He also hoped that the ekpay would be the most trusted payment aggregator in the country.
Faiz Ahmad Taiyeb said it is observed that two separate entities within a single system in the country's mobile financial services cannot ensure interoperability.
"We want to create an ecosystem where interoperability is ensured," he said.
In this regard, the country's government agencies need a reliable payment aggregator, where ekpay can play an important role, he further said.
The ICT division wants to enhance ekpay to a position, where all the related government agencies, utility service providers, educational institutions, banks, MFS, FinTech and all financial institutions would be connected, he added.
A2i project director Mamunur Rashid Bhuiyan presided over the workshop.
In his speech, he said there has been mistrust in the ekpay platform.
"But we want to assure you that there is no room for lack of trust in ekpay at present," he said.
A panel discussion on the 'Role and Actions of ekpay in the Payment Ecosystem' was also held at the workshop.

[email protected]