Central Bank Halts Illegal Loan Apps

Bangladesh Bank has initiated a comprehensive regulatory crackdown to sever financial connectivity for unauthorized mobile lending applications engaged in predatory interest rates, device data scraping, and digital extortion. Commercial banks, mobile financial services (MFS), and payment service providers (PSPs) have been instructed to immediately suspend payment processing gateways linked to these unlicensed digital operations. The directives were officially communicated by the central bank on Monday, September 7, 2026.

​The relivant source confirmed that the Payment Systems Supervision Department dispatched formal directives to scheduled banks, the Bangladesh Financial Intelligence Unit (BFIU), the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), licensed PSPs, MFS operators, and postal financial service Nagad. The circular mandates an immediate halt to transaction channels powering the designated applications, requiring institutions to submit compliance reports to the central bank by Tuesday, September 15, 2026.

​Cybersecurity assessments indicate that unlicensed loan apps operating under titles such as 'Rapid Loan', 'Easy Cash', or unauthorized third-party application package (APK) files exploit broad smartphone permissions upon installation. These apps gain access to local contact books, image galleries, multimedia files, and messaging data. Upon default of excessive interest fees, operators allegedly leverage this sensitive data to execute cyber blackmail, extortion, and reputational attacks across social networks.

​The central bank emphasized Section 15(2) of the Payment and Settlement Systems Act 2024, noting that running micro-lending, deposit collection, or settlement systems without regulatory clearance remains unlawful and constitutes a punishable offense under Section 37(1). The circular warned that payment facilitators enabling settlements for these unauthorized mobile entities risk being classified as complicit in the violation. Consequently, financial intermediaries were ordered to invoke Section 18(4) of the statute to freeze all operational merchant interfaces, payment links, and virtual accounts operated by the offending developers.

​Commenting on the initiative, Bangladesh Bank Executive Director and Spokesperson Arif Hossain Khan stated that regulatory action was deployed to protect domestic consumers and stabilize the digital financial ecosystem. He remarked that legitimate credit facilities are exclusively provided by licensed commercial banks, non-banking financial institutions, and certified microfinance bodies rather than unverified links shared on social networks. He urged the public to maintain strict device data privacy hygiene and refrain from granting extensive smartphone access permissions to untrusted mobile applications.

​//DBTech/DMO/SME/MIS//