Mobile Financial Services (MFS) has set a new record in monthly transactions in March this year. Earlier in April 2022, the highest transaction record was Tk. 1 lakh 7000 crore. Breaking that record, the highest transaction in March was Tk. 1 lakh 8 thousand 467 crores. Also, year-on-year transaction volume has increased by around 22% or more than 19 thousand crore taka.
34 thousand 308 crore Taka have been deposited in mobile banking accounts (cash-in) in March transactions. 30 thousand 940 crore taka has been withdrawn (cashed out) during this period. Also, 31 thousand 507 crores of money has been transferred from individual account to individual.
According to the latest report of Bangladesh Bank, the number of customers registered in mobile banking stood at 19 crore 80 lakh 91 thousand 783 by the end of March 2023 with the addition of 13 lakh new customers. Out of this, 11 crore 5 lakh 53 thousand 71 people have registered in the rural ares and 8 crore 75 lakh 38 thousand 712 in towns. Among the registered, 11 crore 44 lakh 89 thousand are male and 8 crore 31 lakh 2 thousand are female customers. At this time, the number of mobile banking agents has reached by15 lakh 98 thousand.
In addition, a total of 48 crore 24 lakh 55 thousand 915 transactions were done in the banking channel in March. Out of this, 2 thousand 758 crores of salaries and allowances of various organizations have been distributed in mobile. 4 thousand 114 crores have been paid for the purchase.
It may be noted that, Bangladesh Bank launched mobile banking in 2010. On March 31, 2011, the journey of mobile financial services began in the country through the mobile banking services of the private sector Dutch-Bangla Bank. After this, bKash launched mobile banking services as a subsidiary of BRAC Bank. At present, the majority of the mobile banking market is occupied by bKash. Apart from Nagad, currently 13 other institutions in the country are offering financial services through mobile banking, including Rocket, M-Cash, Upay.