Transactions through mobile financial services (MFS) increased significantly ahead of Eid although Bangladesh Bank lowered the ceiling thereof in January this year in order to restrain illegal financial services like ‘hundi’.
Sector insiders said the volume of transactions through MFS was more than double in the first half of the Arabic month of Ramazan and continued to rise as people needed easy transaction centering Eid.
Earlier the MFS marked a 10.23 percent rise to Tk 72,578 crore in the January-March period of the current financial year despite the BB restriction.
The central bank lowered the ceiling for mobile banking transactions along with a host of other restrictions with the view to bringing discipline in the sector and checking the rise of the digital hundi.
A maximum of Tk 15,000 can be deposited into a mobile wallet each day and Tk 10,000 taken out — down from the previous daily ceiling of Tk 25,000 for both.
The BB also directed the mobile financial service providers not to open more than one account with a single National Identity Card.
According to the insiders, the daily average transaction stood at around Tk 1,100 crore, up from Tk 833 crore registered in the preceding three months.
The total number of mobile wallets rose around 23 percent to 5.07 crore at the end of May, up from 4.70 crore in December last year.
The number of active accounts soared 55 percent from December last year to 2.96 crore in March.
Besides, different MFS providers have recently announced different cash back and some other promotional campaign which put impact to the increase of transactions.
bKash, the leader of the MFS announced 20 percent instant cash back on paying bill through bKash. Other operators also announced similar promiotions.
“Mobile banking is a hassle-free service, so it is fast becoming the people’s preferred mode of remitting money to their relatives or others, said a high official of bKash preferring anonymity.
Subsequently, the number of transactions and mobile banking accounts is fast mounting, he said.
“Bringing cash is risky, so I prefer using mobile wallet. It is hassle free and convenient as MFS are available in almost all steps of the country,” Tahmina Sultana, a city dweller told The New Nation when she was shopping at the Bashundhara Shopping Mall on Wednesday.
However, the BB’s move to lower the ceiling prompted agents to open more wallets to adjust their over-the-counter (OTC) transaction volume, said Abul Kashem Md Shirin, Managing Director of Dutch-Bangla Bank, the country’s second largest MFS provider.
To get by the new restrictions, customers started maintaining wallets with a host of MFS providers, but under their kith and kin’s name.
The BB too acknowledged the new phenomenon.
“The move to lower the transaction limit may have increased the number of mobile banking accounts,” said Subhankar Saha, Executive Director of the BB.
Many accounts that were inactive for a considerable amount of time sprung back to action once the new limits came into effect, said Lila Rashid, General Manager of the BB’s Payment System Department.
