Payment puzzle: Why Bangladesh’s digital talent is bleeding money

The entire generations of Bangladeshi digital workers who are winning in the global marketplace are losing at the bank for transaction troubles.

The numbers tell a painful story
Bangladesh has emerged as the world’s second-largest supplier of online labour, with an estimated 650,000 active freelancers commanding roughly 16 percent of the global market, trailing only India.

The country’s IT and IT-enabled services sector reached $1.4 billion in exports in 2024, growing at 40 percent annually. More than 4,500 software companies now operate here, exporting to approximately 80 countries. These are not small numbers. This is a genuine economic phenomenon.

Yet the $5 billion IT export target set for 2025 has been missed by a staggering margin. Official figures for FY25 put ICT service exports at just $724.6 million — a 7.7 percent increase from the previous year, but nowhere near the ambition.

Pakistan, facing similar structural challenges, saw its IT exports surge 18 percent to a record $3.8 billion in the same period. India’s IT exports grew 12.48 percent to an estimated $224.4 billion.

What explains this gap? The answer, according to dozens of freelancers, startup founders, and industry veterans is deceptively simple: getting paid is harder than doing the work.

The invisible wound
Consider the journey of a simple payment. A Canadian marketing agency wants to pay a Dhaka-based graphic designer $800 for a branding project. The agency initiates a wire transfer.

That payment passes through an intermediary bank in New York or London, undergoes anti-money laundering checks, and then gets routed to a local commercial bank.

The designer waits ten days. Sometimes fifteen. The bank calls to request supporting documents — contract, invoice, proof of service delivery. The designer sends the same papers every month. The bank holds the payment for another week.

By the time the taka touches the designer’s account, between six and eight percent of the original amount has evaporated. For larger IT exporters managing recurring international payments, the situation is even more absurd.
This is not malice. It is a structural mismatch.

Bangladesh’s foreign exchange regulations were designed for a different era — for large, episodic transactions like import letters of credit or one-off remittances from a factory worker in Singapore. The system was never built for hundreds of small, recurring digital payments. It defaults to suspicion, not facilitation.

The shadow economy nobody talks about
Here is the uncomfortable truth that industry insiders acknowledge only off the record: a significant portion of Bangladesh’s digital export earnings never enters the formal banking system at all.

Industry estimates suggest that 30 to 40 percent of freelance income flows through informal channels — hundi networks, cryptocurrency conversions, or foreign accounts maintained through various workarounds. Some analysts put the figure even higher.

What other countries did right
The solutions are not theoretical. They exist. India allowed banks to partner with fintechs like PayPal, Wise, and Payoneer. Exporters receive foreign currency directly into special Export Collection Accounts with automatic realisation and no transaction-by-transaction approval for amounts under $10,000.

The India-Singapore UPI-PayNow link, operational since July 2025, enables real-time cross-border remittances and merchant payments. Indian freelancers now receive payments in one to two days with costs under two percent.

Pakistan created a dedicated “IT Exports” category under its central bank. Registered freelancers and IT companies receive payments through licensed payment service providers without case-by-case documentation. A single annual declaration of business activity suffices. Costs dropped from seven percent to under three percent within two years.

Kenya’s M-Pesa now integrates with international gateways including Paystack. A Kenyan freelancer can receive a direct card payment from a US client, which converts instantly and settles in their mobile wallet. The country leapfrogged traditional banking entirely.

Signs of movement — but not enough speed
To be fair, Bangladesh Bank has not been entirely idle. In November 2025, the central bank authorised Mobile Financial Service Providers and Payment Service Providers to handle repatriation of export proceeds for small-value cross-border e-commerce transactions up to $1,000 without EXP Form declaration.

The Payoneer-bKash partnership now allows freelancers to withdraw earnings directly to their mobile wallets. The draft Cross-Border Digital Commerce Policy 2024 promises an internationally accepted payment system connected to existing infrastructure.

Five things that must happen now
First, Bangladesh Bank must create a separate regulatory window for digital service exports — software, freelancing, IT services, cloud consulting. Within this window, any licensed bank should process inward remittances up to $10,000 per transaction with only a digital declaration.

No physical paperwork. No per-transaction approval. The risk of money laundering is low for small, recurring service payments; the cost of friction is catastrophically high.

Second, the central bank should license qualified fintechs as Payment Service Providers for inward remittances, allowing them to partner with global players like Wise, Payoneer, and Remitly.

These PSPs would maintain settlement accounts with local banks but handle customer onboarding, compliance, and speed. Competition will drive down fees.

Third, banks and PSPs must be required to show the mid-market exchange rate and their exact margin before a user confirms a transaction. No hidden fees. No “zero commission” claims that mask a three percent spread. Transparency builds trust and reduces the incentive to use informal channels.

Fourth, the government should build a unified digital portal where freelancers and IT exporters can link their bank accounts, PSP accounts, and tax identification. The portal would automatically generate foreign exchange realisation certificates and tax statements. One click to comply. No more running between bank branches.

Fifth, Bangladesh Bank should pilot a controlled sandbox for stablecoin-based settlements between registered exporters and vetted international buyers. Singapore, Switzerland, and even Nigeria are already experimenting with this for low-cost, near-instant cross-border payments. Bangladesh cannot afford to be left behind.

The human cost of waiting
Approximately 65 percent of Bangladesh’s 173.8 million people are under 35. Nearly 80,000 to 90,000 engineering graduates enter the job market each year. Traditional employment cannot absorb this number. The digital economy offers a solution — but only if earning from it becomes practical.

Bangladesh proved with the garment sector that it could transform an industry when the stakes were high. Digital exports are the garments of the 21st century. They require no factories, no shipping containers, no letters of credit. They require only talent, connectivity, and a payment system that does not punish success.

The technology exists. The global precedents exist. The talent is already here, waiting to be paid.

The only missing piece is the will to compete.

(The writer is a policy analyst specializing in digital governance and public-sector reform).