The USAID/FHI 360 Mobile Solutions Technical Assistance and Research (mSTAR) project together with the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) hosted a Mobile Money Consultative Group (MMCG) meeting on May 30^th 2017 at the Windy Town Hall of Bangabandhu International Conference Center in Dhaka to discuss the role of the regulators in accelerating Digital Financial Services (DFS).

A total of 30 representatives from different development organizations, financial service providers (FSPs), mobile network operators (MNOs), donor agencies and technology solution providers took part in the meeting and provided their valuable feedback and opinions.

The key discussions of the meeting were the regulatory barriers new DFS entrants face; market challenges resulting from low financial literacy; difficulties tailoring financial products to meet diverse market segments; stringent KYC (Know Your Customer) identification needs hindering low-income groups’ interest in digital accounts; lack of defined regulatory framework for fin-tech and MFS interoperability.

The stakeholders in the meeting agreed that regulators and market players must work together to resolve these issues as a way to accelerate DFS in Bangladesh. Stakeholders highlighted a need for an intermediary body between the regulators and market players with a role to promote DFS in Bangladesh.

The meeting agreed to rename MMCG into “Digital Finance Consultative Group (DFCG)” and selected UNCDF as its Secretariat. The meeting representatives felt the need to rename the Group as DFCG to encompass wide ranging issues that have direct and indirect impacts on promotion of the DFS market in Bangladesh. As the Secretariat for the DFCG, UNCDF will facilitate and coordinate actions and activities of the group in coming years.

The representatives from the City Bank, Bank Asia Limited, bKash Ltd, Southeast Bank Limited, Grameen Phone, a2i, ACDI/VOCA, Dhaka Ahsania Mission (DAM), DAI, BRAC, BSR, MicroSave, Porticus, CGAP, CNFA, Cloudwell Limited, WorldFish, D-Money and Financial Forum Bangladesh, participated in the meeting.

For more information, please contact:

Mr Ashraful Alam
Country Project Coordinator of SHIFT-SAARC
UNCDF, The Secretariat of DFCG
IDB Bhaban (Level 7), Sher-e-Bangla Nagar
Agargaon, Dhaka.
Email : ashraful.alam@uncdf.org
Cell: +880 01714110492