Although the rules say one must have his own account to transfer money in mobile financial service, a huge sum of money is being transacted without having such accounts every, finds a survey report.
Such transactions have raised concerns for money laundering, according to the people concerned.
MicroSave, a market-led solution for financial services, conducted the survey titled “Agent Network Accelerator Survey: Bangladesh Country Report 2014.”
The survey named the transactions without account as over-the-counter (OTC) transactions.
While speaking at the report launching, the officials said there is a risk of laundering a huge sum of money every day if such practice continues.
According to the report, the transfer of money without having a mobile account constitutes 33% of all transactions a day.
It said 22% of Bangladeshis use mobile money transfer service, but only 3% of them have mobile money accounts.
“OTC transaction through mobile banking is the biggest concern of money laundering in Bangladesh,” said Abul Kashem Md Shirin, deputy managing director of Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd.
According to him, some leading mobile banking service providers facilitate OTC transactions and increase the risk of money laundering.
The report stated that the agents use their personal handsets to conduct OTC transactions.
The survey found that agents continue to do transfers using multiple SIM cards and personal mobile money accounts, although they are aware that it is not permitted.
In Bangladesh, copies of ID documents (citizenship certificate, passport,
driving licence) are mandatory for opening mobile accounts and such requirements led to low number of accounts, the report said.
About frauds, the survey found that a significant number of agents have suffered fraudulence and such incidents are highest in number in rural areas, according to the survey.
Most of the agents earn low profits due to low transactions and commissions. Seventy five per cent of agents earn less than $100 per month.
Profitability is highest in metro areas and low in villages, primarily due to the difference in median number of transactions per day – Metro (20) and Village (10), according to the research.
Transaction volumes in Bangladesh are, though, very low compared to East Africa, but very low operational costs keep the majority of agents profitable.
The low costs are primarily driven by the fact that 96% of agents are non-dedicated. Agents have pre-existing alternate business out of the outlets and incur low additional expenses for mobile money.
The number of daily average transactions increased by over 17% to 18,07,052 in September from 15,43,086 in August this year.
