Eastern Bank Ltd launched a co-branded USD Mastercard for member companies of Bangladesh Association of Software and Information Services (BASIS) on Monday.

The move is expected to accelerate the organisation’s foreign spending by simplifying the existing complex process for foreign purchases relating to IT/ITES procurement.

BASIS member companies can remit abroad up to US$30,000 to meet their bona fide business expenses in a calendar year. Eastern Bank said the new system would be “faster, reliable, secured and exclusive”.

MA Mannan, the State Minister for Ministry of Finance and Planning, inaugurated the credit card at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in Dhaka. He said that digitising financial systems and transactions in such a way are helping to push forward the government’s vision for a digital Bangladesh.

“We are trying to meet young generation’s demand as the government wants to work for the youth,” MA Mannan said.

Other speakers at the inauguration included Subir Kishore Choudhury, Acting Secretary to the Information and Communication Technology Division; Subhankar Saha, Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank; Mustafa Jabbar, BASIS President; Ali Reza Iftekhar, Managing Director and CEO of EBL; Syed Mohammed Kamal, Country Manager of Mastercard Bangladesh; and Gitanka D Datta, Director at Mastercard Bangladesh.

Mustafa Jabbar said: “We believe the initiative will expand Bangladesh IT services beyond the border and help the country reach the export earning target of $50bn.”

Ali Reza Iftekhar said EBL was “excited” about the new three-way partnership with Mastercard and BASIS.

“This is not our first partnership with Mastercard or our first co-branded card with them, and we believe that it will be as fruitful as all of our previous partnerships have been,” he added.

Syed Mohammad Kamal said they are always committed to “offer the best choice to the biggest number of people, which calls for a diversified product portfolio so our cardholders can choose from a wide-range to find exactly what they need.”