Mobile financial services have passed the Corona exam: Dr Atiur
Mentioning that low-income people have benefited from MFS during the pandemic, former Bangladesh Bank Governor Prof. Dr. Atiur Rahman said that mobile financial services had passed the “Corona exam”.
“When we launched mobile financial services in Bangladesh ten years ago, our goal was to provide low-cost and accessible digital financial services to low-income people living in remote areas,” he said. at a seminar titled “A Decade of MFS”. : Post-Pandemic Field Level Realities’ co-hosted by Unnayan Shamannay and Knowledge Alliance Saturday, March 12.
Dr. Atiur Rahman pointed out that new MFS products such as digital nano-loan and small savings are emerging and their availability to marginal populations in Char areas should be properly prioritized.
Financial industry professionals, researchers, students, mass media professionals and other stakeholders attended the event, a press release read.
The panel speakers were eminent economist Dr Ahsan H Mansur, former executive director of Bangladesh Bank Asim Kumar Dasgupta, and sociologist and founder of Knowledge Alliance Khondoker Sakhawat Ali.
The results of the field survey revealed that amid the pandemic, low-income customers in Char regions opened MFS accounts in large numbers. This was mainly due to the government’s decision to send cash transfers through MFS.
As a result, Char customer confidence has increased significantly.
The Char people primarily rely on MFS agents to understand the technical aspects of mobile financial services.
However, reliance on agents in megacities and at district or sub-district level is gradually decreasing as customers use the app themselves.
Khondoker Sakhawat Ali pointed out that half of MFS accounts remain dormant as they were opened primarily to receive government cash transfers amid the pandemic.
He sees this as a positive sign and insists on finding ways to encourage these customers to use these accounts for other purposes.
Dr. Ahsan H Mansur said that besides sending and receiving money, other uses of MFS need to be increased.
He believes that it is entirely possible to move towards a “cashless society” through the effective use of MFS.
