Bangladesh’s next phase of financial inclusion must move beyond expanding access to financial services and focus on whether people and enterprises can use finance to invest, expand businesses, create employment and strengthen economic resilience, speakers said at a national policy dialogue organized by the Power and Participation Research Centre (PPRC).
The PPRC Real Economy Dialogue on “Financial Inclusion 2.0: Policy Goals, Transactions Ecology and Sustainable Roadmap” was held on September 19 at Hotel InterContinental Dhaka.
Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury, MP attended as chief guest, while PPRC executive chairman Hossain Zillur Rahman chaired and moderated the dialogue.
Presenting PPRC’s Financial Inclusion 2.0 framework, Rahman said Bangladesh had made significant gains through microfinance, mobile financial services and agent banking, but the nature of the challenge had changed.
“Inclusion has not necessarily led to empowerment in every case,” he said.
PPRC identified access to appropriate finance for cottage, micro, small and medium enterprises as a major next challenge. Collateral-based lending, complex procedures and unsuitable financing continue to keep many entrepreneurs outside formal credit.
Dr. Fazlul Kader, Executive Director of PKSF, called for “prosperity financing that enables capital formation,” adding: “The ultimate indicator is employment.”
Sabbir Ahmed, Visa’s country manager for Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, said: “Our traditional SME lending system is not fit for purpose.”
On the disconnect between transactions and lending, he added: “Our payment infrastructure and credit infrastructure do not talk to each other. They have to talk.”
Mohammad Mamdudur Rashid, managing director and CEO of UCB, said: “Only when credit scoring becomes a low-cost commodity can credit reach the truly marginal level.”
Mohammad Helal Uddin, executive vice-chairman of the Microcredit Regulatory Authority, stressed the need to connect borrowers’ banking and microfinance histories: “If the bank CIB is not joined with the MFI CIB, any score is incomplete.”
On the transition towards a digital financial future, Kamal Quadir, CEO of bKash, said: “For a digital future transition, we must have ecological preparation.”
Md Arfan Ali, founder and chairman of Zaytoon Business Solutions and former managing director of Bank Asia, said: “When you speak of Inclusion 2.0, interoperability must be priority number one.”
The dialogue also focused on how digital reform can proceed without weakening the agent networks and commercial incentives on which the existing financial system depends.
On Bangla QR and Zero IRF, Kaiser A Chowdhury, chairman of Nagad, asked: “Can our banks fill the vacuum of some 1.5 million agents overnight?”
Syed Mahbubur Rahman, managing director and CEO of Mutual Trust Bank, said: “Every stakeholder needs to see an incentive, otherwise cash becomes easier and cheaper.”
On barriers to wider smartphone and data adoption, Mahtab Uddin Ahmed, former president of ICMAB and former CEO of Robi Axiata, said: “Bangladesh is the only country in the world where voice price has a mandatory floor price … so there is disincentive in the data business.”
Calling for greater coherence between policy objectives and implementation, Muhammad Abdul Mazid, former chairman of NBR and chairman of the Social Development Foundation, said: “The government must come out of self-contradiction.”
Finance and Planning Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury identified robust internet connectivity as fundamental economic infrastructure.
“Everyone says power, gas. I would add one more: robust internet,” he said. “Without robust internet, the digital economy has no future.”
The minister said the Cabinet-approved “one citizen, one wallet” initiative was under process, supported wider credit-rating coverage and nano-lending, and said digital banking would move forward soon.
He also stressed the importance of safeguards: “You cannot do digitalization, AI operation, without guardrails.”
The dialogue additionally covered agricultural and retail finance, microfinance regulation, digital fraud and cybersecurity, smartphone affordability, financial literacy and the integration of credit information.
Closing the session, Hossain Zillur Rahman said Financial Inclusion 2.0 must connect financial empowerment, enterprise growth, employment and an integrated digital financial system, while preserving the strengths of the ecosystem Bangladesh has already built.
“A big-bang approach is not the relevant way forward,” he said. “It is about getting those second- and third-order policy steps right.”
PPRC will draw on the dialogue to develop a comprehensive Financial Inclusion 2.0 policy paper, setting out the proposed policy framework, areas of convergence and issues requiring further policy work.