The Mobile financial services (MFS) sector of Bangladesh started over a decade ago in 2011, intending to provide access to low-cost digital financial services to the informal sector demographic, especially in rural areas.
Fast-forward to the present, currently, the sector has 13 MFS players that provide digital financial services to over 11 crore customers who make 1 crore transactions per day, worth Tk2,300 crore.
The country even saw the rise of its first Unicorn through the pioneer MFS provider bKash.
bKash, a subsidiary of Brac Bank currently has over 5 crore customers and its daily transactions stand at over Tk1,000 crore, while Nagad, which was launched in 2019 has already become the second-largest player in the sector. Rocket, an MFS of Dutch Bangla Bank Limited holds the third position in the category.
According to the MFS providers of the country, the government and the central bank, through its policies, had enabled a regulatory ecosystem that incubated the growth.
They said this on Thursday at a fair that was organized to celebrate the 10 years of MFS operations in Bangladesh.
They further said that although MFS was launched to bring people of the informal sector under banking services for financial inclusion, it is now a part of the daily financial transactions of over 11 crore subscribers across the country, who resided both in metropolitan and rural areas.
According to insiders, the pandemic further fueled the growth as customers and transactions grew by folds. More than one crore new clients were added to the service between March 2020 and November 2020.
With over 11 crore customers, the anniversary of MFS was celebrated under the slogan, "Haater Muthoy Arthik Sheba," or "Financial services at your fingertips" at Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy on Thursday.
The MFS Fair was sponsored by bKash, Rocket, MCash, Upay, Tap, My Cash, TeleCash, Tap NPay, FSIBL, Rupali Bank Limited, OK Wallet, Islamic Wallet and Cash.
Bangladesh Bank Deputy Governor Ahmed Zamal inaugurated the fair with the participation of other MFS service providers.
Md Mezbaul Haque, general manager of Bangladesh Bank, Abul Kashem Md Shirin, managing director and CEO of Dutch Bangla Bank Ltd, Kamal Quadir, chief executive officer of bKash, Major General Sheikh Md Monirul Islam (Retd), convener of 10 years of MFS Industry and chief external and corporate affairs officer of bKash along with senior officials of Bangladesh Bank and 13 MFS providers, were present on the occasion.