Mobile Finance in Bangladesh
Mobile finance is an important medium for current transactions. Finance is finance or banking. Nowadays people try to get things done easily in a short time. Mobile finance is the easy way to transact money in a short time through mobile.
Currently, several companies in our country are offering mobile finance facilities. Through these, money can be transacted very easily in various activities including shopping, electricity bill, mobile recharge, money-transfer. Mobile finance is playing the most important role in e-commerce business.
Development
At present, the most popular means of money transaction in Bangladesh is bKash. Their market share is more than 50 percent. In addition, by facilitating cash transactions, they have boosted the business of 160,000 agents in the country. The company is continuously collaborating with various banks. Development has a large customer base. They have made it easy to send remittances and also pay interest on savings
Finance Corporation (IFC) and Alipe Singapore E-Commerce Private Limited are the equity partners of the company. The Bill Gates Foundation and Alipay hold non-voting preference shares in the company, and the company has announced a strategic partnership with Ant Financial.
Rocket:
Apart from various agents, Rocket service is available at 162 branches of Dutch-Bangla Bank. It is the first company to launch banking services through mobile phones. After developing market share, Rocket has about 2 lakh 19 thousand agents.
Bikash
Cash is a digital financial service of the postal department of Bangladesh. There are over eight and a half thousand cash branches in different parts of the country. It enjoys a large number of regulatory benefits as it is not regulated by the central bank. This is mainly due to the Postal Act. As a result, cash can give its customers the opportunity to enjoy more than five times the transaction limit as compared to other MFS service providers in the country.
IPay
IPay is a digital e-wallet. It helps the customer to transact money by connecting to their own bank account. This service is currently associated with 56 banks in Bangladesh. This transaction system is recognized by more than a hundred brands in more than two thousand outlets.
Dimani:
Dimani is a fintech company working with the post office. It started only in September this year. Their aim is to reach out to a larger population in rural and isolated areas. It has just launched ‘Dak Taka’. It is a banking service that allows users to open an account for less than Rs 2 and allows customers to withdraw and deposit money as well as make payments. They recently signed an agreement with Al-Arafah Bank to provide the first Islamic e-wallet service.
Nexus Pay
It provides an app to DBBL account holders for the purpose of providing advanced banking services and integrating customer cards. At the end of 2017, the number of Nexus Pay app downloads has increased to 16 lakhs. Unlike other competitors, all services offered through Nexus Pay are completely free and do not require any additional commission. There are currently 628 Nexus Pay Merchants.
Effects of Bangladesh Mobile Finance
Mobile banking was introduced in Bangladesh in 2010 6 out of 28 banks approve mobile banking Of these, 19 banks started their activities at the field level With the approval of private banks, more than four and a half lakh agents are working on these cash transactions. According to Bangladesh Bank, an average of Rs 333 crore is being transacted through this mobile every day. The number of mobile banking subscribers is currently 23 million, which is 15% of the total population of the country
However, most of the people in Bangladesh who transact money through mobile banking do not have any account of their own. They transact money through agents It has been seen that 80/90 percent of the transactions are 7 without own account
Challenges and Obstacles of Mobile Finance in Bangladesh
Development in Bangladesh has the highest market share of 53 percent. Some also feel that the lack of competition created by such influential market players is creating social barriers. While other global MFS service providers, including M-Pay and Alipay, have emerged as huge opportunities for the sector, Bangladeshi mobile financial institutions have lagged far behind. The lack of competition has served as an additional factor in the fact that there has been no further development of services or the addition of new services.
In addition, the government's tight control over the market is responsible for the lack of competition and innovation. The issue of not allowing mobile network operators with long-term interests in the sector is also discussed. Other reasons for the decline in customer base in mobile finance in Bangladesh have also come to the fore. For example: Person to Person (PTP) transfer service, which is the main development service. Consumers do not need to have an account to enjoy this service and can easily use agents' accounts to send money. Such transactions account for 60 percent of the total transactions. Customers do not need to open their own account for this service. Due to cultural norms, low literacy rate and inequality in mobile phone access, the number of female accountants is only 36 per cent as compared to 75 per cent Bangladeshi male account holders. According to Intermedia, 76 percent of Bangladeshi men have mobile phones, while only 48 percent of women.
Service of mobile finance outside Bangladesh
Mobile money accounts have expanded, especially in Kenya, where 73 per cent of adults have an MFS account. In Uganda, Zimbabwe has about 50 percent of adult MFS accounts. The economies of 10 sub-Saharan African countries are also ahead in MFS, where the number of account holders in financial institutions has surpassed that of mobile money account holders. These economies include Burkina Faso, Shad, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Kenya, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe.