April 13, 2010 - A historic milestone for Bangladesh as international remittance took a turn towards the future today with the launch of Mobile remittance, a first ever for Bangladesh as well as South Asia. Dhaka Bank Ltd (DBL) and country’s 2nd largest mobile operator Banglalink jointly launched the service at a city hotel. Bangladesh Bank Governor Dr. Atiur Rahman formally inaugurated the service.

The launched service is working through a “Bank led” model whereby Dhaka Bank Ltd will offer mobile wallet accounts to the mass through banglalink and will ensure the business processes are in line with the financial regulations of the country. Dhaka Bank Ltd will also act as the cash custodian for Mobile Wallet users. Banglalink will be the information carrier and platform manager along with ensuring cash point roll out and connectivity.

Through this service, Dhaka Bank Ltd will use Banglalink’s payment management platform and communication network to introduce a highly secured, convenient, reliable, fast and cost-effective remittance system. Banglalink distribution outlets will be used as Remittance disbursement cash points for the remittances sourced by the banks. The service will also reduce the transfer time from the existing 4-5 days to just 1 day. The service will be initially launched in Dhaka and will be available Nationwide within one month.

For the beneficiaries who have Banglalink mobile connections, they will be able to open mobile wallet accounts at Dhaka Bank selected Banglalink mobile remittance points by submitting necessary identity documents and account opening forms. Mobile wallet account holders can receive the remittance directly in their mobile wallet account created with the bank. Once the wallet account is credited, wallet account holders can receive partial or full disbursement from the cash points.

If the beneficiaries do not have Banglalink mobile connections, they can still receive the remittance from overseas by receiving a secured and unique transaction reference number which is forwarded to them by the sender. In that case, the beneficiaries have to go to the cash points with proof of identification and request for the disbursement by submitting the Transaction Reference Number, the exact amount. The beneficiaries can receive remittance disbursement from any of the designated banglalink mobile remittance points soon to be rolled out all over the country.

The rural population which is the major beneficiary of the earnings of migrant workers will benefit immensely, the service being available to the rural masses due to Banglalink’s network coverage, extensive distribution channel and its nationwide service points. It may be mentioned that more than 90 percent of the population do not have access to regular banking facilities whereas some 35 Lac migrant workers contribute around Tk. 70,000 crore annually to the national economy, the largest source of foreign currency earnings in Bangladesh.

With this service, Dhaka Bank Ltd has moved a step closer to the government’s vision of a Digital Bangladesh as the service will add value to the rural population in terms of increased reach, reduced costs, convenience and speed.