The mobile financial services (MFS) saw a 30.34% year-on-year rise in transactions in the last fiscal year (FY22), as MFS services became faster and easier to use.
According to central bank data, transactions through MFS reached an unprecedented level of Tk9,90,004 crore in FY22 from Tk7,59,556 crore in FY21 and Tk4,89,559 crore in FY20.
On a month-on-month basis, the MFS transactions also went up by 23.56% in June from the month of May, with transactions worth Tk94,294 crore.
All transaction patterns like cash-in, cash-out, person to person, merchant payment, government to person, salary distribution and utility bill payments significantly increased in June.
Customers carried out cash-in transactions worth Tk27,419 crore, while Tk26,692 crore cash-out, Tk24,520 crore in person-to-person transactions, Tk3,126 crore in merchant payments, Tk 3,508crore government to person and Tk2,059 crore in utility bill payments.
Besides, Tk3,264 crore salary was disbursed and Tk797.5 crore talk time was purchased using MFSs in June, as per Bangladesh Bank data.
As per the research director of Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies (BIISS) Mohammad Mahfuz Kabir, the faith of the people has increased in MFS with operators continuing to provide services during the pandemic, causing an increase in transactions.
Remittance through MFS is also gaining momentum which will further increase MFS transactions in the future as per the expert.
However, the high cost of transactions in mobile banking is a problem with the maximum cash-out charge being Tk18.5 per thousand including VAT, and Kabir thinks the government should reduce the transaction charges.
According to the BB, the number of registered mobile accounts stood at 178.6 million, including 99.4 million in rural and 79.2 million in urban areas in June, while active accounts numbered 112.6 million.
In Bangladesh, 13 platforms currently provide services to 178.6 million customers.
Of the figure, the number of male accounts was 103.5 million and female accounts 74.7 million.
