Bangladesh Bank is going to revise the recently issued circular on Mobile Financial Service (MFS), to void the risk of illegal transactions. However, a final decision is yet to be made. The department of payment systems, of the central bank, is expected to issue a circular after finalising it.
According to a circular issued on August 2, a photo of an MFS user has to be stored, if he or she carries out a transaction (cash in or out) of Tk 5,000 or more. This will be changed in the revised circular.
Mahfuzur Rahman, executive director of Bangladesh Bank, told The Independent, yesterday, that instead of a photograph, an agent can choose to save a photocopy of the National ID Card of an MFS user, as per the revised circular.
“We had a discussion with banks and they told us about the difficulties in implementing the circular issued on August 2. We have also talked about how to resolve issues that they had raised in the meeting," he said.
An official of Bangladesh Bank told The Independent that an internal meeting has been held over this issue.
"We don't want to strangle the growth of MFS. Our goal is to provide banking facilities to all. So, we don't want to create barriers, rather, we want to make MFS transactions secure. Bangladesh Bank is determined to weed out illegal financial transactions," added the BB official.
The circular on mobile financial services, issued by the central bank on August 2, will be very tough to implement, said sources in different banks. But, they supported the idea of registration and re-registration of mobile SIM cards.
Abul Kashem Md Shirin, DMD of Dutch Bangla Bank, the second largest MFS provider in the country, told The Independent that there should be a law to check crimes, but it is very difficult to reduce irregularities only by taking users’ photos, or giving new directives.
It can be threat to a bank’s security system if the photograph of a MFS user has to be stored, while he or she is doing a transaction, an official of an MFS provider said.
"Dutch Bangla Bank has 120,000 agents and each agent has to be provided with a camera or a smart phone, if the circular is set to be implemented. Not only that, he should be given access to the banking system. With access being given to so many agents, the bank's system might become vulnerable," Shirin added. It is very tough to implement this type of a directive, he said.
"If this is implemented, the number of transactions will rise, but the amount will be lower than Tk 5,000. To control crime, law is more effective. The number of irregularities found in MFS transactions is very low. It's a bit illogical to change the entire system," the Dutch Bangla Bank DMD said.
"You may find that only 20 in every 1 lakh MFS transactions are illegal," he said. He pondered how reasonable it would be to control the entire system and suggested that a new law would be a good option, to identify and punish perpetrators.
Shirin welcomed the decision to change the requirement of saving photographs of high-value MFS users.
According to Bangladesh Bank, the total number of MFS agents was 538,170, before June. With this number, the monthly approximate transactions total about Tk. 13,000 crore. On the other hand, according to instructions mentioned in the circular, all subscribers will have to re-register their SIM-cards within six months, in accordance with Know-Your-Customer (KYC) norms. And, after completing registration or re-registration, a copy has to be saved.
Agents have to submit reports on all the measures taken in this regard, to the central bank, by August 31, and a report has to be submitted every six months, the circular issued on August 2 added. Talking about the BB directive, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission secretary Sarwar Alam said the process of SIM registration is going on now. "We've seen the directive issued by the central bank, on mobile financial services," he added.

Md Abdus Salam, Managing Director of Janata Bank, presiding over the workshop on \"Janata Bank Green Communication\" at its committee room on Tuesday. Md Afzalul Bashar, GM of Research and Planning Division of the bank moderated.

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News:New Age/2-sep-2015

Bangladesh Bank is going to allow private non-bank companies to set up and run automated teller machines and point-on-sale machines under agreements with banks in a bid to expand the services to more areas. A BB official told New Age on Monday that only commercial banks were now allowed to set up ATM booths and POS terminals to settle bank transactions. But, the banks are not interested in setting up ATM booths and POS terminals in the rural areas as they think that their earnings from the services in the areas is lower compared with that in the urban areas, he said. Besides, the banks are now imposing high charges against the merchants who use the POS terminals and due to the high charges the shop owners are showing little interest to settling transactions through the terminals. The banks will be compelled to lower the charges once the private companies are allowed to set up POS terminals. Due to high charges, the shop owners set up only 6,035 POS machines as of September 30, 2014 although the country’s business sector demands more terminals considering its volume, the BB official said. The central bank will impose a condition on the private companies who will be allowed to introduce the services that they must establish majority of their ATM booths and POS terminals in the rural areas, he said. The BB data showed that the banks established 6,035 ATM booths as of September 30, 2014. But, a very few ATM booths were set up in the rural areas. The banks have so far issued 72,85,805 debit cards, 5,77,864 credit cards and 1,02,787 prepaid cards. The issuance of such cards will increase once the private companies are allowed to set up ATM booths and POS terminals, the BB official said. The central bank’s initiative will also boost the country’s financial inclusion as the marginal people in the rural areas will be encouraged to be attached with the banking system if they are able to use ATMs and POS terminals, he said. The BB will also allow the agents of the banks to make payment through POS terminals to the clients meaning that the terminals will act as ATMs, the official said. He said the clients would also recharge their mobile phone using their debit or credit cards and they would be allowed to pay their utility bills through the cards. BRAC Bank managing director Syed Mahbubur Rahman told New Age on Monday that such initiative (allowing private companies to run ATMs and POS terminals) might result in an unhealthy competition between banks and private companies. The private companies will occupy a good amount of the profits the banks now get from the services if they (private companies) are allowed to establish ATM booths and POS terminals. He said the BB should impose a condition on the private companies that they set up ATM booths and POS terminals outside the city in a bid to avoid any possible unhealthy competition in the sector.

Major General Md Mahfuzur Rahman, Adjutant General of Bangladesh Army & Vice Chairman of Trust Bank Limited inaugurated the 100th branch of Trust Bank Limited as chief guest at Mohammadpur in the city Sunday. Ishtiaque Ahmed Chowdhury, Managing Director & CEO of Trust Bank Limited, singer Runa Laila, film actor Alamgir Hossain, senior officials of the Bank and guests attended the inaugural ceremony.