Bangladesh Country Report

Demographics and Economy:
Outlines the key metrics and trends which influence the development of retail banking and payments in the country:

• Population structure
• Income
• Mobile and internet use
• Economic data

Retail Banking:
Explores the structure of the local banking system, its infrastructure and the leading players. Data includes:

• Aggregate retail banking indicators
• Bank branch, ATMs and POS terminals
• The profitability of top banks

Consumer Finance:
Overview of consumer finance in the country. Categories analysed include:

• Mortgage loans
• Personal loans
• Credit card loans
• Vehicle loans

Credit Cards:
Industry-leading credit card coverage. We detail the past present and future of the industry through our data and commentary, including:

• Market size split by consumer and commercial credit cards: number of cards, transaction volume, billed volume
• Profit pool analysis
• Competitive landscape: networks, issuers

Debit Cards:

• Market size: number of cards, transaction volume, billed volume
• Competitive landscape: networks, issuers

Prepaid Cards:

• Market size: number of cards, transaction volume, billed volume

Demographics and Economy:
There has been a boom in mobile phone ownership. There were 84.4 mobiles per 100 adults at the end of 2015. Forecasts suggest this will increase to 110.3 by the end of 2018.

Retail Banking:
There are two types of banks in Bangladesh: scheduled banks and non- scheduled banks. The former has a licence to carry out retail banking services. The latter is not permitted to carry out the full range of functions that scheduled banks may carry out.

Consumer Finance:
There is a large swathe of the population that is financially excluded, while many live in poverty. While this places a limit on the demand for consumer finance at present, this also means that, as economic conditions improve in Bangladesh, the demand for consumer credit will grow organically.

Cards market:
The Bangladeshi payment cards market is at an emerging stage. The market is dominated by debit cards, while credit cards remain a financial product that is available only to the affluent.

E-money:
The growth and success of mobile money since it was launched in Bangladesh in 2010 has been striking. In several important respects, it has overtaken debit cards, and this trend is set to continue.

Profit Pool:
The Bangladeshi credit card industry is a profitable one, with an estimated pre-tax profit in 2015 of $33 million.

Pricing and enhancements:
As more credit card issuing banks have entered the market (there were 28 issuing banks at the end of 2015, out of a total of 56 scheduled banks), pricing and enhancement offerings have improved in an effort to attract clients.

The card networks:
The leading credit card network is Visa, which has had the majority of cards in issue for the years under review. The majority of billed volume has also been on the Visa network. The leading debit card network in Bangladesh is a proprietary scheme issued by Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited (DBBL).

Key retail banks and issuers:
Three banks – The City Bank, Standard Chartered Bangladesh and BRAC Bank – dominated the credit card issuers market in 2015, with an estimated 59.6% of the market share of cards in issue between them.

Merchant acquirers and processing:
The City Bank is the leading credit card issuer in Bangladesh, as well as being the leading acquirer of credit cards at the POS. City Bank is the fourth-ranked acquirer of debit cards at the POS. Altogether, going by billed volume, The City Bank is the leading acquirer.

Online acquiring:
The online acquiring and processing market in Bangladesh is a small but growing market. The total amount of card not present billed volume came to an estimated $18.5 million in 2015.