Mobile banking customers have crossed 10m-mark for the first time in the country.
“The milestone has been achieved in just three years, contributing a lot to the financial inclusion initiative,” Bangladesh Bank said in a statement on Wednesday.
The mobile baking service, launched in the country in 2011 under the mobile financial service guidelines, provides the much needed financial access to the poor and unbanked population across the country.
Mobile banking customers grew nearly 12% per month to stand at more than 10.3m on November 11, which was 9.98m in the previous month. The average daily transaction in terms of value was more than Tk50bn in October.
As mobile banking and other technological innovations fuel the expansion of financial services in many developing countries, a new World Bank Group report released on Tuesday urged the policy makers to focus on products that benefit the poor, women and other vulnerable groups the most.
“It helped improve the living standard of the poor as well as boost the rural economy,” said the central bank statement.
Access to the formal banking system is very limited in Bangladesh as only 15% of the 160m people have the bank accounts. However, the 110m mobile phone users in the country are fuelling the expansion of mobile financial services.
To make mobile banking popular, the central bank allowed mobile financial service in Bangladesh and granted licence to 28 banks to launch the service. So far, 18 banks have started providing mobile financial service while bkash Limited, a BRAC bank subsidiary, and Dutch Bangla Mobile Banking Limited are leading the sector.
Under the guideline, mobile financial service offers products like cash in, cash out, salary disbursement, utility bills payment and inward remittances.
BB officials said banks are in a better position as compared with other entities to lead the financial inclusion goal in Bangladesh, leveraging the mobile phone technology.
Dutch Bangla Bank first launched the mobile financial service in March 2011, followed by bKash, a joint venture of BRAC Bank and Money in Motion LLC, a US mobile financial service company.
Later in April 2013, International Finance Corporation, the private sector investment arm of the World Bank Group became an equity partner of bKash.
“When well designed, efforts to foster financial inclusion can be an effective way to empower people,” said World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim on the release of the report titled “The 2014 Global Financial Development Report: Financial Inclusion.”
He said: “Whether you are a public sector financial regulator or a private sector bank, it is in your interest to get everyone access to financial services. This is good for the world and will help us end poverty.”
The comprehensive report yet on the topic comes as policy makers are pushing to reach the world’s unbanked – 2.5 billion people who make up about half of the world’s adult population.
More than 50 countries recently set targets to improve financial inclusion. Last month, Kim announced a new initiative to provide universal financial access to all working-age adults by 2020 with the help of technological innovations such as e-money accounts and e-mobile wallets.
