Digital Financial Services to Promote Digital Bangladesh

Digital Financial Services (DFS) present a unique opportunity for emerging economies to close the financial inclusion gap that has persisted for decades, DFS also enables significant opportunities to improve service delivery, enhance transparency and accountability, enhance operational efficiencies and reduce costs of operation. 

Bangladesh has recently emerged as a curious case of digital innovation to widen coverage and reach remote pockets. The country reached the lower middle income country status in 2015, and has showcased the potential of combating rural poverty through inclusive digital financial services. This has proved to be an effective weapon to eliminator poverty and secure the sustainable development goals
(SDGs) while the country advances towards Vision 2021 -lifting millions of Bangladeshis out of poverty. Innovation and digitization will surely set Bangladesh firmly on the path to becoming a middle-income country. Although ambitious, it is exactly the and private sector are working towards

Access to the formal financial system remains a challenge for the rural poor in Bangladesh even though the central bank announced a plan for inclusive digital financial programmes in 2015. The progress seems to have stalled despite the popularity of mobile money transaction services from private companies such as bKash and Dutch-Bangla Bank Mobile Banking in a context where the microfinance system is already prevailing

The branch-based fails at inclusion since rural villagers deal mostly in cash. But the cast of these cash transactions will have to be passed on to the customers, meaning that they would end up having high service charges to cover the overhead of rural branches of banks Difficult as it is, to bring the poor illiterate rural farmer into the fold of a formal financial system, a high service charge would make it next to impossible.

Digital tools towards the same goals are accepted to be far more effective for the rural populace.
Towards that end, electronic cash cards, agent banking, mobile phones and other digital means are opening up the possibility to connect rural households with reliable financial services and tools. Bkash and Dutch-Bangla (DBBL) have the top market share in mobile money in Bangladesh$(in 2015,~58\% and ~17\% respectively, followed by mCash [~9\%]. Ucash [1~8\%] and MYCash [~3\%\left]\right)$They are all (only) from the banking/ traditional financial services industry.