A comprehensive overview of the cards, payments and consumer banking market in Bangladesh, with clearsighted commentary backed by relevant data. Although the pandemic has negatively impacted purchase volume and transactions, a revolution is underway centred around mobile payment and P2P methods. This is finally making inroads on cash usage.
In 2020, mobile payments at the POS exceeded debit card purchase volume. The credit cards market is tiny but profitable, with a ceiling of 20 percent interest recently set for credit cards. Appropriately licensed non-bank entities have been rolling out white-label ATMs and POS terminals, extending the acceptance reach.
An interoperable QR code, Bangla QR, is currently being deployed, which should find popular favour given the ease of use, interoperability and the increasing penetration of compatible phones.
Key takeaways from this Bangladesh payments report:
Key Topics
Demographics and the economy
Payments environment
Cards market
Mobile payments
Profit pool
The networks
Key retail banks and issuers
Acquiring and processing
Online acquiring
Regulatory and other cards market information
Appendices: Card Payments Data
Appendix I: Demographics and the economy
Appendix II: Payments environment
Appendix III: Cards market data
Appendix IV: Mobile payments
Appendix V: Profit pool
Appendix VI: Card networks
Appendix VII: Key retail banks and issuers
Appendix VIII: Acquirers and processing
Appendix IX: Online acquiring data
Demographics and Economy:
the success stories in contemporary South Asia: in October 2020, it emerged that its per-capita GDP will exceed. India's by the end of 2020, a shock to the status quo.
Payments Environment:
Bangladesh is still predominantly a cash-oriented society. While the government is pushing for a reduction of cash use, it remains integral to daily life, in particular in rural areas.
Cards market:
By the end of 2020, the total number of active payment cards in issue, not including prepaid cards, in Bangladesh amounted to an estimated 26 million, up from eight million in 2014.
Mobile Payments:
Verisk Financial Research (VFR) expects continued strong growth in billed volume for the forecast years. Billed volume is expected to close out the year at over $63 billion in 2020, increasing from just under $12 billion in 2014.
Profit Pool:
Although tiny given the country's population, the Bangladeshi credit card industry is profitable, with an estimated pre-tax profit in 2020 of $36 million.
Card Networks:
Credit cards comprise a tiny slice of the payments market in Bangladesh, representing a mere two cards per 100 adults in 2020. The leading debit card network in Bangladesh is a proprietary scheme issued by DBBL. Visa is the leading network by billed volume.
Key Retail Banks and Issuers:
There is a total of 60 scheduled banks currently in operation in Bangladesh: these may be split into six different groupings.
Acquiring and Processing:
The City Bank is the leading credit card issuer, as well as being the leading acquirer of credit cards at the POS. It is also the largest acquirer of debit cards at the POS.
Online Acquiring:
The online acquiring and processing market in Bangladesh has expanded greatly in recent years. The total amount of online acquired billed volume came to an estimated $532 million in 2020.
Regulatory and Markets Information:
The World Bank, in a report on regulatory predictability, highlighted ineffective banking regulation and supervision as challenges that have weakened the Bangladeshi banking sector.
Agrani Bank
Alibaba
American Express
Amex
Apple Pay
Bangla QR
Bangladesh Bank
Bangladesh Commerce Bank
Bangladesh Development Bank
Bangladesh Krishi Bank
Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission
Bank Al-Falah
Bank Asia
BASIC Bank
BB
bKash
BRAC Bank
Chaldal.com
Citibank
City Bank
Commercial Bank of Ceylon
Compass Plus
Daraz.com
DBBL
Diners Club
Dutch-Bangla Bank Limited
Eastern Bank
EBL
e-Cab
Electronic Money Transfer System
EMTS
FIS Global Services
Google Pay
GPAY
Grameen Bank
GrameenPhone
Habib Bank
HSBC
IBBL
iPay
Islami Bank Bangladesh
Janata Bank
JCB
Lanka Bangla Finance
Mastercard
Meena Click
MTB
Mutual Trust Bank
Nagad
National Bank of Pakistan
NexusPay
Omnibus
Othoba.com
Prime Bank
Priyoshop.com
Probashi Kallyan Bank
Rajshahi Krishi Unnoyon Bank
Regulatory Fintech Facilitation Office
Rocket
Rupali Bank
Samsung Pay
Shawapno.com
Sonali Bank
Southeast Bank
Standard Chartered Bangladesh
State Bank of India
SunGurd System Access
The City Bank
Tieto Enator
TPS Pakistan
UCB
UnionPay
United Commercial Bank
University of Dhaka
Upay
Valyo
Visa
Woori Bank
World Bank
Verisk financial reports include detailed market and competitor intelligence on payments cards, e-money, acquiring, retail banking, and consumer credit in the Asia Pacific region. Analysts use primary and secondary source data and conduct in-depth interviews with senior industry executives and finance experts.
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