Nagad’s rejoinder, our reply
In its own statement, Nagad could not mention any of the licencing conditions that it was able to comply with. The company itself admitted that it could not complete the licencing process.
Nagad has sent a rejoinder to a report published in The Business Standard on 29 June with the headline "Nagad does not meet licence conditions for third time."
Following is the full unedited text of the rejoinder:
It has come to the notice of Nagad Bangladesh Ltd that on Tuesday (29.06.2021) The Business Standard, a well reputed newspaper of the country, has published a report with the headline – Nagad does not meet license conditions for third time – in its third page and uploaded on its web portal (https://www.tbsnews.net/) also. We consider the report was prepared based on false, incorrect and distorted information, which we are clearly rejecting and protesting wholeheartedly from our side.
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The report has referred that Nagad couldn't comply with even a single condition of the licensing requirement which is not correct at all. We strongly protest this sort of slanderous statement that clearly maligns the image of Nagad (2nd largest MFS in the country having reached 50M customers & daily transaction volume of BDT 7.5 billion plus, till date). Please note we, Nagad Ltd. under the supervision of Bangladesh Post Office (BPO) of Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication Division have already initiated the process and submitted required documentation for the approval of Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication to allot 51 percent shares to BPO. Upon approval from the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunication, we will complete the process of licensing from the Bangladesh Bank. Report also suggested that transaction statements sent to Bangladesh Bank (since November, 2020) as part of the monthly requirement as stipulated in MFS Guideline were not acceptable to them which in reality is an untrue statement.
Furthermore, said report mentioned that Bangladesh Post Office (BPO) has no control over Nagad's trust cum settlement bank account which clearly is a misleading information. For correct record, please note that Nagad's trust cum settlement bank accounts are duly acknowledged by the Bangladesh Bank and under daily monitoring by BPO's representative as per the agreed modus operandi of all relevant parties.
The subject report further created some unnecessary confusion about the ownership structure of Nagad. Please be informed that a very senior level committee was formed few months back towards finalization of the pending matter and consists of representatives from relevant stakeholders/ministries who are currently working on that. Based on the consensus of that committee, Bangladesh Post Office requested for a six months' time extension for the interim license towards completion of the needful since that has inter-ministerial dependencies which are naturally time consuming and beyond Nagad's single control.
Moreover, the report also mentioned that Nagad Ltd. hasn't adjusted loans which again is an untrue statement and therefore to be corrected. In the report, we noticed, that the reporter has mentioned good number of unnamed sources against its claims which is also unjustified and unethical, so we count it as an intentional and motivational piece that certainly damages our strong business repute.
We will expect that as a responsible and prestigious newspaper of the country, The Business Standard will publish the rejoinder on the newspaper with due respect and remove the controversial report from the web portal immediately.
Our reply
In its own statement, Nagad could not mention any of the licencing conditions that it was able to comply with. The company itself admitted that it could not complete the licencing process.
It initiated the process of allocating 51% of shares for the Bangladesh Post Office and submitted the required documentations for approval of the ministry of posts and telecommunication. One of the licencing criteria given by the Bangladesh Bank is that the Bangladesh Post Office will have to hold 51% of Nagad shares.
The senior level committee is working on allocating 51% of Nagad shares for the Bangladesh Post Office, which is not complete yet. The government thus still has no stake in Nagad.
Nagad was given an interim licence by the Bangladesh Bank in March 2020, which expired on 30 June this year after its third extension. As the company could not complete the licencing process, the interim licence was extended for three more months till September on Tuesday.
Besides, Nagad has been sending transaction statements to the Bangladesh Bank since November 2020, 21 months after coming into operation. But the central bank has not included the transaction data in the overall transaction statistics of the country's mobile financial services industry.
The statistics are regularly updated on the central bank's website but Nagad's transaction statement is still not included there. So what does it imply?
In our report, we did not write that the Bangladesh Post Office has no control over Nagad's trust cum settlement bank account. The sentence Nagad wrote in its rejoinder is misleading.
According to the Bangladesh Bank's licencing condition, Nagad will have to transfer the trust cum settlement account to the Bangladesh Post Office from Third Wave Technologies Limited, which has not been done yet.
