Business Report :
Prime Bank, a second-generation private sector bank in the country, has received regulatory approval to establish a subsidiary for mobile financial services (MFS) under a bank-led model.
The approval was granted by the Bangladesh Bank recently, according to a Dhaka Stock Exchange disclosure.
The new subsidiary will be formed in compliance with the Bangladesh Mobile Financial Services (MFS) Regulations 2022.
Prime Bank had announced its intention to enter the MFS market in August last year, recognising the sector’s vast potential.
The bank plans to start the subsidiary with an initial minimum paid-up capital of Tk45 crore.
Currently, the bank operates 146 branches nationwide and has five subsidiaries.
Prime Bank Investment and Prime Bank Securities operate within Bangladesh, while Prime Exchange Co Pte, PBL Finance (Hong Kong), and PBL Exchange (UK) operate abroad.
Earlier, a top executive of the bank told that “We planned the MFS business as the industry is growing rapidly and has now evolved into a larger infrastructure.”
“We want to create a convenient payment system for customers through MFS so that they can easily transfer money,” he added.
This February witnessed a remarkable surge in the number of transactions conducted through MFS, reaching the highest number ever recorded in a single month.
According to a central bank report, 58.43 crore transactions were made using MFS like bKash, Nagad, and Rocket in February.
The previous high of 57.33 crore transactions took place in October last year.
The amount transacted also saw an increase with Tk1.30 lakh crore transferred using mobile financial services, the second highest to date.
The highest was in June last year with over Tk1.32 lakh crore in transactions, the report added.
Comparing February’s figures to the same period last year, the transaction amount increased by approximately 34%, with Tk97.31 thousand crores transacted in February 2023.
Industry stakeholders attribute the substantial increase in both transaction numbers and amounts to several factors, including the formation of people’s habits favouring digital transactions and the ongoing development of the digital ecosystem.