New rules to take services to the poor

Bangladesh Bank has introduced fresh guidelines on mobile financial services (MFS) aiming to bring the poor and ‘un-banked' people into the banking network at an affordable cost, reports said in Dhaka. "We've issued the guidelines as part of our financial inclusion programme to include a vast segment of the population, especially the underprivileged ones and rural people within the fold of basic banking services, using mobile phones," the Financial Express newspaper reported quoting Bangladesh Bank executive director Das Gupta Asim Kumar. He said the decision was taken in view of the fact that currently only 15 per cent of the population has bank accounts while 50 per cent is now using mobile phones across the country. "The beneficiaries will receive the fund within the shortest possible of time at a minimum cost under the arrangement." Under the guidelines, the bank-led model will offer an alternative to conventional branch-based banking to the un-banked population through appointed agents facilitated by the Mobile Phone Network Operators or solution providers. Another central bank official familiar with the process said Bangladesh Bank already allowed 12 commercial banks to run mobile banking business across the country under the guidelines under which customers account would be termed "mobile accounts".