Daily MFS transactions grow by 24% in a year

Daily transactions by Mobile Financial Services (MFS) such as bKash and Rocket have grown 24% in the last year.

According to data from the Bangladesh Bank, average daily transactions in February this year stood at Tk3,475 crore, an increase from Tk2,805 crore in the same month a year ago.

The total transactions at the end of the month stood at Tk97,308 crore.

In April last year, an average of Tk3,582 crore was transacted per day – the highest daily transaction since the introduction of MFS. According to that, the second-highest daily transaction was recorded in February this year.

According to the industry insiders, the transactions are increasing mainly due to the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr. Also, a good inflow of remittances for the past two months has helped boost MFS transactions.

Shamsuddin Haider Dalim, Head of Corporate Communications at bKash, said, "People are gradually getting used to digital transactions. Also, we are trying to include new products. Now many facilities, like merchant payment and bank deposit, are available through MFS."

Explaining the matter, he said, "We are now giving digital nano loans through bKash. Customers can take a loan of up to Tk20,000 through bKash without going to banks and get it by clicking here. Our own process is used to determine the loan amount to be given to a customer."

February's data showed that customers cashed in Tk29,228 crore, cashed out Tk28,136 crore, and transferred Tk27,522 crore person-to-person balances.

Besides, transactions have increased year-on-year in all areas, including salary distribution and bill payment.

A total of 45.09 crore transactions took place through MFS in February, which is an increase of 8.23 crore compared to the same month a year ago. It is the third-highest in terms of total transactions. The highest transaction of 46.30 crore was recorded in January this year.

According to the central bank data, the total number of customers in MFS stood at 19.68 crore at the end of February. Out of this, the number of male customers is 11.37 crore, and the number of female customers is 8.26 crore. Besides, 4.68 lakh institutional and other accounts have been opened in MFS. The customers have increased by 2.05 crore in the last year.

Of the MFS customers, 55.64% or 10.79 crore, are from rural areas. The remaining 44.36% are customers in urban areas.

Again, the amount of money deposited in MFS accounts exceeded Tk10,000 crore in February, after seven months. Earlier in June last year, the deposits in these accounts amounted to Tk10,870 crore.

The Bangladesh Bank launched mobile banking activities in 2010. The MFS started its journey in the country on 31 March 2011 with the launch of Rocket. According to the latest data from the central bank, there are currently 13 banks offering mobile banking services in the country under various names such as bKash, Rocket, UKash, MyCash, and SureCash.