The country’s banking services have been modernised with time. After the eras of transactions through ATM and bank-checks, the banks in the country are turning to app-based transactions.
It has expedited the banking transactions as well as made the banking services much easier for the clients. It also has made people’s lives more comfortable by introducing an easier daily banking service. This app-based modern banking system is quite popular among the people now.
According to the figures of the Bangladesh Bank, the total sum of app-based transactions in the month of February was Tk 293.86 billion. As such, the average daily app-based transaction was Tk 10.49 billion in February, which was Tk 10.94 billion in January. The total amount of app-based transactions in January was Tk 339.26 billion. This was the highest amount of app-based transactions ever recorded in a single month in the country’s history.
The number of customers of app-based banking services has tripled in the last four years. There were some 2.05 million clients of app-based banking service in February 2019, which reached nearly 6.6 million at the same time in 2023.
Terming this as a positive change, Mutual Trust Banks managing director Syed Mahbubur Rahman told Prothom Alo, “The necessity of digital banking system was perceived highly during the coronavirus pandemic. Introduction of the digital system has widely increased the use of modern technologies in the banking sector. At the same time, it has raised people’s interest in tech-based services. As a result, the app-based banking sector is widening further with each day passing.”
According to the sources in the central bank, The Dutch Bangla Bank Limited’s mobile banking app ‘Nexus Pay’, Islami Bank’s ‘Cellfin’, BRAC Bank’s ‘Astha’, Sonali Bank’s ‘eSheba’, Eastern Bank Limited’s Sky EBL and City Bank’s mobile banking app ‘City Touch’ are most popular among the people. These apps cover the major portion of the total app-based bank transactions. Some 60 per cent of total app-based customers are clients of Nexus Pay and Cellfin.
The Cellfin app of the Islami Bank has been downloaded more than 1 million times, according to the figures of Google Play Store. It has a rating of 4.4 out of 5 in Google Play Store with around 24,000 reviews from the customers.
DBBL’s Nexus Pay app has been downloaded more than 1 million times as well. It also has the same rating of 4.4 out 5 like Cellfin. However, in terms of customer reviews, Nexus Pay is far ahead of Cellfin with more than 64,000 reviews.
Anwarul Islam, who works at a private farm in the capital, told Prothom Alo, “I have opened a salary account. Now I don’t need to go to the bank to send money home. I can send it directly through the mobile app of my bank. It saves time.”
“Mobile banking service has made our life much easier,” he added.
Not only banks, the mobile financial services (MFS) like Bkash, Rocket, Nagad, and Upay, are also used for app-based transactions.
According to the figures of Bangladesh Bank, an average of Tk 34.75 billion was transacted daily through MFS in February alone.
* This report appeared on the online version of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Ashish Basu