Nine institutions process Tk940 on first day of interoperable system
bKash records highest 37 transactions
On the first day of Bangladesh's interoperable payment system, nine financial institutions – including four mobile financial service (MFS) providers, four banks, and one payment service provider (PSP) – processed transactions worth a total of Tk940 today (2 November).
The participating institutions were Islami Bank Bangladesh, Islami Bank's mCash, Islamic Wallet, Mutual Trust Bank, Rocket, bKash, TallyKhata, Pubali Bank, and Premier Bank.
Among them, bKash recorded the highest number of incoming transactions at 37. However, the platform has yet to enable outgoing transactions. This means bKash can receive funds via the interoperable system, but users cannot send money from bKash to other platforms.
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A senior Bangladesh Bank official said the central bank has instructed bKash to enable both incoming and outgoing transactions. Failing this, the central bank may suspend incoming-only transactions.
The official added, "if the system is not fully secure, Ad Money could also be blocked."
bKash reportedly requested a three-month extension from Bangladesh Bank to enable outgoing interoperable transactions, citing security concerns.
Across all institutions, 60 incoming and 49 outgoing transactions were recorded on the first day.
Bangladesh Bank Executive Director Arif Hossain Khan said five more banks – Eastern Bank, Al-Arafah Islami Bank, Dutch-Bangla Bank, Standard Bank, and BRAC Bank – are expected to join the interoperable system gradually after completing testing.
Transaction breakdown on the first day: Islami Bank Bangladesh saw 1 incoming, 3 outgoing; mCash 9 incoming, 3 outgoing; Islamic Wallet 1 incoming, 5 outgoing; Mutual Trust Bank 1 incoming, 17 outgoing; Rocket 6 incoming; TallyKhata 3 incoming, 1 outgoing; Pubali Bank 18 outgoing; Premier Bank 2 incoming, 2 outgoing.
According to central bank sources, bKash proposed Tk9.50 per interoperable transaction, the highest among operators. Nagad proposed Tk7.50, while some other operators offered less than Tk5. Bangladesh Bank set the transaction fee at Tk8.50 – higher than most operators' proposed rates but slightly lower than bKash's.
