Mobile banking transactions reach Tk 3.78b daily in Jan

Mobile banking services are gradually becoming popular in Bangladesh, as the services are provided at the doorstep of people, living in the country's un-banked areas, officials said.
Average daily transaction through mobile banking services has increased by more than 8.0 per cent to Tk 3.78 billion in January 2015 from Tk 3.49 billion in December 2014.
Clients can transfer money, receive salary or pay bills from their accounts using mobile banking services without visiting any bank branch.
"We're now working to meet the challenges of mobile financial services (MFS) as well as bring more people, particularly the low-income one, under the umbrella through building awareness about the user-friendly services among them," KM Abdul Wadood, general manager of Payment Systems Department of the Bangladesh Bank (BB), told the FE on Sunday.  
The number of registered clients rose to 25.24 million in January from 25.19 million in December, while the number of active account-holders came down to 11.05 million from 12.15 million.
Mr. Wadood also said the central bank is now promoting the concept of banking without bank branch through agent banking to expedite the ongoing financial inclusion programmes across the country.
The value of total transactions under mobile banking services rose to Tk 11.34 billion in January 2015 from Tk 10.48 billion in the previous month, BB data showed.
However, the number of agents came down to 535821 during in January, from 540984 in December.
"Two banks have already cut their number of agents on security ground," another BB official explained.
The central bank has already given permission to 28 commercial banks for running their mobile banking business across the country.
"Of them, 19 commercial banks have already started mobile banking by using mobile phone network," the central banker noted.
He also said the banks will be responsible for mitigation of all kinds of risks, such as - liquidity risk, operational risk, and fraud risk including money laundering and terrorist financing risks.
Under the existing guidelines, the country's bank-led model will offer an alternative to conventional branch-based banking to un-banked population through appointed agents, facilitated by Mobile Phone Network Operators (MNOs) or solution providers.
The banks and their partners will have to comply with the existing Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT)-related laws, regulations and guidelines, issued by the central bank from time to time, according to the guidelines.
On September 26, 2011, BB introduced fresh guidelines on MFS to bring the poor and un-banked people under banking network at affordable costs.
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