Bangladesh has a huge prospect for mobile financial services (MFS) as a vast segment of people remains unbanked here, said Heidi Berg, director of Telenor’s strategic FS projects.
“Access to formal financial services at an affordable cost especially for the poor is a tough task. Considering this aspect, MFS can play a vital role in reaching the services to the rural areas,” she said, while talking to journalists in a city hotel yesterday.
Some 2.5 billion people do not have access to financial services, though, 1.7bn of them have mobile phones, Heidi Berg said.
It is a large scope to reach those people financial services, added the Telenor official.
Mobile account usage in African country’s like Kenya is 97%, Tanzania 72%, Uganda 70% whereas in Bangladesh it is only 5%.
The total value of monthly transactions in Bangladesh made through mobile phones stood at Tk11,104 crore in February, according to a study by USAID.
Praising the figure, Heidi said undoubtedly it is a good sign, but those are either sending or receiving money through agents, not through their own accounts.
“Traditionally banks are not interested in MFS. But bkash, an MFS company in Bangladesh, is doing well because it has emerged as a separate organisation and is more focused on its job responsibility.”
Despite impressive growth gains in capital base, income, returns on equity and other areas, the financial sector remains lagging behind due to lack of mobile financial services, she added.
According to the draft MFS guideline of Bangladesh Bank, each MFS platform will require a paid-up equity capital of TK1bn.
According to Heidi, Bangladesh need a contemporary MFS guideline for rapid countrywide expansion of mobile phone networks in Bangladesh.