Bank balance equal to e-money required for financial service providers
The Central Bank's Payment Systems Department on Thursday issued guidelines for trust fund management in payment and settlement services
Mobile Financial Services (MFS) providers, Payment Service Providers (PSC) and Payment System Operators (PSOs) must have the equal amount of money in their Trust cum Settlement Accounts (TSA) in the bank as the e-money generated by them to enable their customers to transact.
If the same amount of cash as electronic money is not available in the account, it needs to be replenished quickly. If they fail to do so, the central bank can fine the companies or cancel their license.
The Central Bank's Payment Systems Department on Thursday issued guidelines for trust fund management in payment and settlement services.
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If there is any additional money, the institutions can invest that money in government securities or fixed deposit or any other approved sector.
Even if the investment money belongs to the customer, the profit from it can be taken by the service provider organization or trustee.
Suppose a customer has Tk10,000 in his MFS account. This is known as electronic or e-money. In contrast to this e-money, the same amount of cash must be present in the MFS organization's trust cum settlement account. This ensures the security of the customer's money.
The service provider operating the trust fund will be known as the trustee. The Trustee shall have an effective internal audit mechanism to monitor its outstanding liability and the Trust Fund.
The Trustee must appoint a Chartered Accountant Firm to conduct a separate audit to ensure that the outstanding liability and corresponding balances into the Trust cum Settlement. The Trustee must also provide Bangladesh Bank with the audited annual report and financial statements and, or reports as prescribed by the Bangladesh Bank.
A central bank official said that the provision was already in place for the service providers. However, there was no complete policy in this regard but now it has been done. Besides, the provision of punishment has also been confirmed.
The policy has also ensured that the institutions will not be able to take control of the customers' money, the official added.
