Speakers at a seminar on Saturday opined that it is very much possible to advance towards ‘cashless society’ though effective utilization of Mobile Financial Services (MFS).
Unnayan Shamannay and Knowledge Alliance jointly organized the seminar titled ‘A Decade of MFS: Post-Pandemic Field Level Realities’ at the Khondoker Ibrahim Khaled seminar room of Unnayan Shamannay in the context of 10 years of MFS in Bangladesh.
Financial sector professionals, researchers, students, mass-media professionals, and other stakeholders were present at the event. Panel discussants were- eminent economist and Executive Director of Dr. Ahsan H. Mansur, former Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank- Asim Kumar Dasgupta, and sociologist and founder of Knowledge Alliance- Khondoker Sakhawat Ali.
“Mobile Financial Services have passed the ‘Corona Exam’”. Former Bangladesh Bank Governor- Professor Dr. Atiur Rahman said while addressing the seminar
“When we initiated Mobile Financial Services (MFS) in Bangladesh a decade ago, our focus was to ensure low-cost and accessible digital financial services to the low-income people living in the remote areas. We have witnessed, during the pandemic, that from the megacities to the remote Char areas, low-income people have benefitted from MFS", DR. Atiur added.
Dr. Ahsan H. Mansur in his remarks, said that along with sending and receiving money, other uses of MFS need to be increased.
He believed it is very much possible to advance towards ‘cashless society’ though effective utilization of MFS.
Results from the field survey has revealed that amid the pandemic low-income customers from Char areas have opened MFS accounts in great numbers. This was mainly due to the government decision to send cash transfers via MFS. Consequently, confidence of the Char customers has increased to a significant extent.
The Char people relies mainly on the MFS agents to understand the technicalities of mobile financial services. However, reliance on agents in megacities and at the district/sub-district levels is gradually decreasing as customers there are using the app themselves.
Khondoker Sakhawat Ali pointed out that half of the MFS accounts remain dormant as they were opened primarily to receive the cash transfers from the government amid the pandemic. Yet he sees this as a positive and emphasizes on coming up with ways to encourage these customers to use those accounts for other purposes.
Dr. Atiur Rahman pointed out that new MFS products such as the digital nano loan and small savings are coming up and making these available for the marginal people of Char areas should be properly prioritized.
