Atiur Rahman, governor of Bangladesh Bank, speaks at the launch of the weeklong e-commerce events organised by the central bank and Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services at the Westin hotel in Dhaka yesterday. Photo: BB

Bangladesh Bank Governor Atiur Rahman yesterday asked all commercial banks to join the National Payment Switch (NPS) network by the end of January to facilitate quick transactions and e-commerce.

The transaction system has changed a lot over the years and the use of plastic money is increasing among the people, Rahman said.

Currently, 46 lakh people have debit or credit cards and there are 30 lakh mobile bank accounts across the country, which help quick and safe banking transactions, he added.

The NPS is a common electronic payment platform for commercial banks, which promises to revolutionise e-commerce in Bangladesh.

Once all banks in Bangladesh join the NPS, a client of any bank holding a credit or debit card will be able to draw cash from any ATM (automated teller machine) and POS (point of sales).

And transaction costs will significantly go down as the transactions will be routed through the NPS instead of Visa, Master or Amex card networks abroad. Moreover, purchase and sales can be done by card over the internet and web portals within the country.

Only three banks --Dutch -Bangla, Pubali and Southeast -- have so far joined the NPS.

“The pace of transaction will be faster if the number of mobile bank accounts reach one crore soon,” Rahman said.

The central bank also plans to bring in Paypal, a global online payment system.

The governor spoke to businessmen at the launch of weeklong e-commerce events, at the Westin hotel in Dhaka as the chief guest.

Bangladesh Bank and Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) have jointly organised the series to create awareness on benefits of e-commerce.

Experts of both BB and BASIS will hold seminars and roundtables on e-commerce throughout the week.

People of the country are trying to sell their products through the internet, but they are facing problems in transaction, said Abul Kashem Md Shirin, deputy managing director of Dutch-Bangla Bank Ltd.

Dutch Bangla Bank started its internet payment gateway from in June 2010 and later BRAC Bank also joined in the system. Banks are working as the medium between sellers and buyers in internet banking transactions, he said.

The full utilisation of e-commerce will also help quick revenue collection for the government, said Ashim Kumar Dasgupta, an executive director of Bangladesh Bank.

“We need two important things -- roadmap and role-map -- for making the e-commerce popular to the people,” said Sayeeful Islam, chief executive officer of SSLCommerz, an e-commerce merchant service provider.

Syed Mahbubur Rahman, managing director of BRAC Bank, and Fahim Masroor, president of BASIS, also spoke.