All it needs to do is setting up a pay-point to be dubbed as Digital Center, where five entrepreneurs will run an outlet and provide services to send and receive money and ease the entire payment system.
In such a digital m-payment system, people can send and receive money just using a common code in mobile phone. The service is likely to be available by the year-end.
The mastermind behind this venture, Mozammel Haque Babu, CEO of Digital Technologies Ltd, a local ICT company, said he will set up 10,000 such digital centers across the country by the end of 2011.
The company got approval from the currency management department of the Bangladesh Bank on July 2 to start m-payment.
The service is expected to ease the payment system of the government, businesses and individuals.
"This system will reduce half the workload of the state-owned banks," said Mozammel Haque.
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) in February issued a short code, 14203, for this service, he said.
Subscribers of any telecom operators can get the service using this code.
In the system, people can receive remittances from their near and dear ones, and transfer funds to different destinations at home and abroad.
Government employees can receive salaries, and freedom fighters can get their allowances even in the remote rural areas within minutes.
All the involved parties will maintain a prepaid mobile payment account and all the transactions will be simple account-to-account transfer, said Mozammel Haque.
The money transaction chain includes payment from bank to pay-point that will be a Digital Centre, and then directly to customer, where the client can pay to merchant.
And the merchants will cash the transacted amount from the digital centre or bank or ATM.
"Here the customers will also be able to recharge their Digital Money in their mobile wallet drawing fund from their respective account maintained with any of the member banks through Q Cash Network," said the Digital Technologies chief.
"The merchants and customers will be able to withdraw cash from Q Cash or any other ATM installed all over Bangladesh apart from the pay-point."
With this system, people can transact diverse expenses, such as paying utility bills and taxes to the government, paying bills to restaurant, hospital, taxicab, gas station and online shopping through mobile phone, he said.
"Along with personal transaction, money transfer system will be eased, as one can also pay workers' salary, loan or micro-credit repayment, pay fees of school, college and university," he said.
"At the same time, remittance disbursement, and the government payments, such as salary to public servants, pension, allowances of the freedom fighters, widows and aged people will also be simplified under this system," he added.
He said the company is now working to set up 10,000 outlets across the country by the end of 2011 to make the services available for all, even those who are not included in the banking channels now.
Initially, the company will set up 1,500 centres by the end of this year, said Mozammel Haque.
The central bank also approved the proposal of Sonali Bank to join the payment system, and the bank would finance 1,320 centres in and around Dhaka, he said.
The bank will lend Tk 1 lakh to each of the five entrepreneurs to help establish each digital centre, with what a total of 50,000 new jobs would be created for the educated youth in the next three years.
This initiative came as part of a Bangladesh Bank move to launch Digital Money-Mobile Payment Service with Multi-Bank and Multi-MNO (mobile network operator) facilities, approved in September.
Chowdhury Mohidul Haq, executive director of Bangladesh Bank, said the central bank is keen to ease the payment system, which will encourage people to use formal channels for sending money.
"We hope m-payment will ease the entire payment system further, especially in disbursing salaries to public servants and different allowances to people across the country," he said.
The central bank has given permission to different commercial banks, including Eastern Bank, Dhaka Bank, Dutch-Bangla Bank, Brac Bank, AB Bank, Trust Bank and Mercantile Bank, to join m-payment platform, Haq said.
"This model is actually bank-centric, and needs cooperation and better coordination to make it a success."
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