& çâÌæÚUæð´ ·¤è ¥ôÚU Îð¹Ùæ ÁæÚUè ÚU¹ð´ ¥ÍæüÌ ¥ÂÙð ÜÿØ ÂÚU ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´Ð ãæÚU Ù ×æÙð´, €UØô´ç·¤ ·¤æ× ·¤ÚUÙð âð ¥æÂ·¤ô ©gðàØ ·¤è Âýæç# ãôÌè ãñ ¥õÚU ÁèßÙ ·¤æ ¹æÜèÂÙ ÎêÚU ãôÌæ ãñÐ ÖÜð ãè ÁèßÙ ×ð´ ç·¤ÌÙè Öè ·¤çÆÙæ§ü €UØô´ Ù ¥æ°, çÁ™ææâæ ¥õÚU ©ˆâæã ÕÙæ° ÚU¹ð´Ð ŠØæÙ ÚU¹ð´, ÜÿØ ã×ðàææ ¥æÂ·Ô¤ Âæâ ãôÌð ãñ´ çÁ‹ãð´ ÂæÙð ·Ô¤ çÜ° ÂýØæâ ¥æÂ ·¤Öè Öè àæéM¤ ·¤ÚU â·¤Ìð ãñ´Ð

ATMs’ rapid spread upgrades bank customer services

Sajjadur Rahman
The rapid spread of ATMs in Dhaka and Chittagong is transforming the way the country's banks operate, with time consuming cash transactions no longer being conducted by human tellers.
In the past few years the number of ATMs (Automatic Teller Machines)has jumped from a handful in the capital to around 500 nationwide, the majority in Dhaka and Chittagong.
"Consumers now prefer to use ATMs for withdrawing cash and printing their recent banking transactions rather than deal with a human teller," Abedur Rahman Sikder, head of marketing and corporate affairs of BRAC Bank told The Daily Star.
He said some 55 percent of BRAC Bank's daily transactions are done by ATMs.
As of Feb 26, BRAC Bank deals some 15,500 transactions everyday by ATMs, which was 12,000 in December, he said.
Although there is no record in the central bank on ATMs in Bangladesh, however it was seen that local banks such as Dutch-Bangla, BRAC, Islami Bank, Shahjalal, Southeast, Dhaka, Asia and Agrani and foreign banks like Hong Kong Shanghai and Standard Chartered are now involved in ATM services.
American Express Bank, Bangladesh, which was acquired by Standard Chartered, Bangladesh in 2005, started ATM operation 7/8 years ago. But the service gained momentum a couple of years ago when the local banks came up with the services first in 2004.
According to banks, some 500 ATMs are now in operation.
Of which, DBBL tops the list with about 250 branches, followed by BRAC Bank 70 and another 70 of Q-cash booths, Standard Chartered Bank 34, IBBL20andHSBC16.
BRAC Bank has a plan to set up more 130 ATMs this year, officials said.
BRAC Bank has 3.5 lakh ATM cardholders and DBBL 1.2 lakh.
“Workload on us has reduced significantly after
A client drops by an ATM in Dhaka yesterday to withdraw cash.
introduction of ATM services," Shahinoor Alam, who has been working with DBBL as a cashier for about four years, told The Daily Star yesterday. .
"I did not go to the bank branch for withdrawal of cash since I have got an ATM card of a foreign bank about one and a half years ago," a young executive of a multinational com panysaid.
According to bankers, most of the banks use Indian software for operations of ATMs and BRAC Bank use Pakistan-made software. '