Nagad, the mobile financial service of the Bangladesh Post Office, has won the Fintech Impact Award for its contribution to financial inclusion by simplifying the account opening process through the use of technology.
Nagad is one of the winners of the maiden `Bangladesh Fintech Awards 2021’ initiated by Bangladesh Brand Forum. In addition to simplifying the use of financial technology during the coronavirus pandemic, Nagad has played an important role by simplifying the mobile payments.
Rahel Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nagad, received the award at an event at Hotel Sheraton in the capital recently. The event was attended by top personalities of the country’s financial sector, senior officials of government agencies and regulatory bodies and entrepreneurs in the fintech sector.
More than 100 companies were initially nominated for this year’s event. The top 26 organizations were then selected for the award in 11 categories.
The FinTech Impact Award was given to Nagad for making the account opening process simple. Anyone can open an MFS account on Nagad network just by dialing *167# from their mobile phones and setting up a four-digit PIN.
At one stage earlier this year, around three lakh people opened Nagad accounts every day by dialing *167#. As a result, more than 5.70 crore people have easily come under the financial system through Nagad.
Nagad has introduced the easy account-opening process keeping the need of ordinary people in mind. At the same time, it has introduced an affordable transaction system by ensuring the security of customer information.
Earlier, Nagad was the first financial institution in the country to launch e-KYC. Because of the innovation, Nagad has won many domestic and international awards, including the Best Innovation Digital Financial Services Award, the Inclusive Fintech Fifty Award as the best fintech initiative, the Best Digital Financial Service Provider Award, and the WITSA Global ICT Excellence Award.
Dr. Dewan Muhammad Humayun Kabir, director of the Access to Information Project of the ICT Division, Professor Mohammad Abdul Momen, director of the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) of Dhaka University, Professor Dr. Mohammad Abdul Mueen of Dhaka University, Professor Imran Rahman, vice-chancellor of the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB), and Nazia Andaleeb Preema, director of Bangladesh Brand Forum, were present.