Men, women equal in agent banking

Over the past nine years since the start of agent banking in the country, there has been a nearly equal number of female and male bank account holders, according to the Bangladesh Bank's latest quarterly report on agent banking from January to March of this year. This report was published in June.

According to the report, there are now more than 18 million (18,934,153) account holders in agent banking. Among them, about 49 percent are women, and 49.6 per cent are men. The remaining 1 per cent includes individuals of other genders and various institutions.

The report also shows that the number of women account holders in agent banking has increased by more than 10 per cent during this quarter compared to the previous one (October to December 2022). As a result, the gap between male and female account holders has almost disappeared. Over the past year, the number of women account holders has gone up by 25 per cent. This indicates a significant rise in women's involvement in formal financial transactions.

Agent banking was first introduced by Bank Asia in the country on 17 January 2014, in Sirajdikhan, Munshiganj. Before this, Bangladesh Bank had issued the policy for operating agent banking on 9 December 2013.

Agents in agent banking handle tasks such as processing remittances sent by people working abroad, providing small loans, and facilitating bill payments for various services. Additionally, this banking service allows people to withdraw money from government social safety net programs.

Out of the total 62 scheduled banks in the country, 31 are currently offering agent banking services. Across the country, there are a total of 15,409 agents and 21,099 outlets providing these services.

Why women account holders are increasing

Ahsan Ul Alam, the head of the agent banking department at Premier Bank Limited, a private bank, informed Prothom Alo on June 27 that the rise in the number of women account holders in agent banking is influenced by the social dynamics of rural areas. This shift is attributed to the requirement for direct visits to the bank due to the biometric banking system.

Ahsan Ul Alam explained that agent banking is primarily set up in rural areas. Men are often at work during the day. The nearby bank locations make it easy for women to do their financial activities. Moreover, many villages have a considerable population of migrant workers. In these cases, their wives are opening bank accounts to access the remittances sent by their partners.

 "I was treated like beggar”

In 2014 Alsing Arifa, 30, added two rooms to her father's home and began agent banking for Asia Bank. Speaking over mobile phone to Prothom Alo on 27 June, she said it had been very difficult at first. She would go from door to door and not get anyone to open accounts for free. She said she was even treated like a beggar and sent away.

Arifa mentioned that she initially set up an outlet with a capital of Tk 2 million. Later, she established two more outlets in Chitrakoot village and Morichabazar of Chitrakoot union. Currently, across these three outlets, she manages a total of 2,200 bank accounts. Among these accounts, 70 percent belong to women. Her husband, Zakir Hossain, has also ventured into operating two agent banks.

Labani Akhter, 31, from Nayanagar village in Rajanagar union, shared on the phone with Prothom Alo that she opened an account at Arifa's Rajanagar outlet four years ago. Her husband, Alamgir Hossain, used to send money to this account from Malaysia. When he returned, he also opened an account at the same outlet. Recently, he even took a loan from there. Labani said she feels comfortable with the friendly and convenient environment that the agent banking provides, especially for women.

Women are less trusted with loans

According to the Bangladesh Bank, the total deposit in agent banking till March is about Tk 316.41 billion with a total loan of Tk 116.67 billion. Remittance of Tk 1.21 trillion has been received so far. Of the outlets, 86 per cent are in rural areas incurring  76 per cent of the deposits. About 35 per cent of the total deposits in urban and rural areas comes from women, 57 per cent from men and the remaining 8 per cent are from other genders. Deposit rates rose by around 5 per cent in the quarter compared to the previous quarter. Loan rate increased by 13 per cent.

However, women's access to loans is very low. As of March, only 13 per cent of loans were provided to women. This suggests that banks do not have confidence in lending to women and women's participation in rural enterprises is low.

Arfan Ali, the former Managing Director of Bank Asia, now serves as the chairman of a microfinance institution named 'Ankur'. On June 18, he shared with Prothom Alo that as more women become part of agent banking, their fortunes will improve. Currently, agent banking accounts make up 36 percent of the total banking accounts.

As per data from Bangladesh Bank, the combined count of account holders, including agents and branch banks, exceeded 140 million by last March (many individuals possess multiple bank accounts). However, there is no distinct data available for women account holders.

Discrimination is still prevalent

Mustafa Kamal Mujeri, the Executive Director of the Institute for Inclusive Finance and Development (InM) and former Chief Economist of Bangladesh Bank, informed Prothom Alo that the number of women account holders in agent banking might rise as they seek to access various government social safety allowances.

However, for the sake of enhancing women's economic participation, these bank accounts should be utilized regularly. Agent banking can serve as a tool to diminish gender disparities within banking. To promote gender equality, it's important to employ female agents, enhance the banking knowledge and education of women account holders, improve their capacity to independently manage their bank accounts for financial transactions, and cultivate a banking system that is women-friendly through the expansion of the agent banking system. These efforts collectively will contribute to the greater economic inclusion of women.