The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has turned out a boon for the country’s mobile financial service (MFS) which has helped customers make transactions at a record of Tk 71,247 crore in May this year with the daily average turnover at Tk 2,298 crore.
As the Covid-19 infections restricted customers to visit bank branches, mobile banking has become one of the main options for them to transact money across the country.
Now from ordinary people to businessmen, mobile transactions are increasing in all cases, including bill payments, shopping, school salaries and government allowances.
"Transactions through MFS are on a rise amid Covid-19 pandemic as customers made record transactions of Tk 71,247 crore in May . . . it is the highest ever in a single month," said a Bangladesh Bank (BB) official.
In April, 2021 the transaction in mobile banking was Tk 63,441 crore. In July last year, Tk 63,000 crore was transacted through MFS, according to the latest data of BB.
Industry insiders said mobile banking transactions have increased for a number of reasons. Consumers are showing more interest in digital transactions staying at home due to maintaining social distance and restrictions on movement due to Covid-19 spread.
Many companies are paying salaries in mobile banking. People are availing many services including credit card bills through mobile banking.
Besides, the government is disbursing financial assistance under social security, and the Prime Minister's gift on the occasion of Eid to the beneficiaries through mobile banking.
Moreover, transactions are also on the rise due to Eid-ul-Azha-centric shopping.
"During the epidemic, customers feel more comfortable in mobile banking than visiting bank branches as the Covid-19 infections have been spreading fast. Now people are making transactions through mobile banking staying at home safely," said an official MFS service provider bKash.
Besides cash transactions, the bKash official said people are also paying electricity, gas and water bills.
Customers are also getting the facility to transact from bank to mobile and from mobile to bank, he said, adding that for this reason, customers are leaning towards mobile banking.
Transactions in the current July month will go up ahead of Eid-ul-Azha as many people are sending money to their families living in rural areas.
Besides, many expatriates are sending remittances to MFS including Eid-centric shopping, said the bKash official.
According to Bangladesh Bank, 15 banks are currently offering mobile banking services. In May, mobile banking services received a cash deposit of Tk 19,426 crore and a withdrawal of Tk 19,173 crore.
According to the central bank, at present 100,700 agents are involved in mobile banking services and there are more than 98 million registered customers.
