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MFS accounts fall 22pc in four months

Muhammad Zahidul Islam
The number of active user accounts in the mobile financial service industry declined 22 percent in the last four months because of strengthening of monitoring by the central bank and a variety of options available to customers.
The industry started the year with 3.73 crore active user accounts but at the end of April it declined to 2.91 crore, according to a report of the central bank.
Since January, the industry has posted negative growth every month in terms of users' number.
However, the number of total registered users stood at 6.83 crore in April and is growing.
Also, the downward trend has had almost no impact on the transaction volume: Tk 34,976 crore changed hands in April.
BB data pointed to positive growth in other parameters in the industry.
As per existing rule, if an account
does not make a transaction for 90 days, it will be struck off from the list of the active accounts. However, the account holder will still be on the list of registered users.
The BB says it is trying to streamline the mobile financial industry through strict monitoring and it might have an impact on the users' number.
"We have strengthened our monitoring and we are ensuring transparency in this field. As a result, only authentic customers can use digital payment systems," said Md Serajul Islam, a spokesperson of the BB.
Islam, also an executive director of the BB, said the central bank has banned opening multiple MFS accounts using one single national identification card (NID) while existing multiple accounts against an NID card had to be brought down to one. Currently only one account is allowed per NID card.
"The move has had a delayed impact on the industry," said Islam.
Sixteen operators, including bKash, Rocket and UCash, are offering MFS at the moment.
Another player Nagad, a service of the state-run postal department, has made foray into the industry and has about 15 lakh accounts to its name. The number, however, was not included in the central bank's report. Abul Kashem Md Shirin, managing director of Dutch-Bangla Bank, the parent company of Rocket, said the number of account holders using Rocket service has not gone down.
However, he said, currently there are a good number of options such as agent banking service as well as payment gateway systems for people. Cards are also getting popular.
"Those may have had an impact. But it is not serious."
Some MFS users may opt for agent banking channels because of the high charges levied by the mobile financial service, industry sources said.
It costs Tk 2.5 to send Tk 1,000 through the agent banking service whereas the cash-out charge is up to Tk 20 in case of MFS operators.
Market leader bKash says the decline in the active users does not mean the account has been deactivated.
Shamsuddin Haider Dalim, head of corporate communications at bKash, said the company has found that the number of agents, registered clients, total transaction, inward remittance and payment all increased in April compared to the previous month.
"Only the number of active accounts fell which is actually counted on 90 days' activity," he said, adding that the figure of a month will always be different from the previous and subsequent months.
The number of MFS agents rose to 9.29 lakh in April from 8.86 lakh in December.
MFS providers are hopeful that the customers will return as the central bank has raised the daily and monthly transaction limit and the operators are offering huge discounts and cashbacks on the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr.