Category Archives: Bangladesh

Could new regulatory guidelines in Bangladesh turn MFS into “nobody’s baby”?

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With the recent release of new draft guidelines for mobile financial services (MFS) in Bangladesh, I caught up with payments expert Raihan to get his views on the state of play of the market, possible outcomes from the guidelines and how we may see Bangladesh consumer financial needs better addressed over the next 5 years.

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Raihan, to set the scene could you please share a bit about your role in the Bangladesh payments scene?

When I joined Grameenphone in 2006 on completing my studies in the US, these were early days for mCommerce in Bangladesh. We designed it all from scratch - processes for financial operations, reconciliation, the channel commission, payments, fund management and more. Seeing our BillPay service so popular in Bangladesh made it all worthwhile. I then moved to airtel where even in a bank led model we have built an award-winning mCommerce portfolio with specialized products such as micro credit disbursement together DBBL, our banking partner and 13 MFS partners including bKash.

What is the current state of play of the Bangladesh MFS market?

Bangladesh MFS market is now 5 years old. The top 2 operators bKash and DBBL together accounts for an estimated 74% of the market, with bKash leading since launch in 2011. A recent cGAP study estimates that 30% of Bangladeshi adults have used bKash while 4% have used the DBBL service. bKash users are more likely to be active, with 81% account holders active, compared with 67% for DBBL users. DBBL users are more likely to be registered users with 44% registered as compared to 23% for bKash.

As of June 2016, there are 36.2 million mobile banking registered accounts but only 13.3 million are active users. However, this data does not represent the number of unique users of MFS.

What’s behind this success of bKash?

I think this is due to the awareness that bKash was able to create ever since their launch and also their extensive retail reach. In terms of transactions, bKash still leads with over 80% market share although their annual growth in revenue has come down to 50% in 2015 from 81% in 2014.

What challenges do you face regarding user identification, AML and KYC?

OTC (Over-the-counter) continues to be hugely popular in Bangladesh, with 2.5 times more users than registered mobile wallet users. Retailers often transact on behalf of customers and this could create AML/KYC issues.

In 2016 we have started National ID verification process for mobile subscribers as Instructed by our regulators. Fortunately, as 90% or more of the active users of Telecom Services registered their SIMs, this may not impact the revenue and transaction volume of MFS.

Regarding usage pattern, I notice that unregistered users are more likely to use basic money transfer services while registered users also use advanced services including bill payment and mobile top-up. Today an estimated 8% to 15% of mobile top-up is done through MFS.

How is sticking with OTC a drawback to poorer users who only need basic services?

Today almost everyone has access to a mobile phone. Hence a poor person living in the remotest corner of the country can get registered through MFS and enjoy proper financial inclusion with the kind of services that are normally only available over a banking counter. Transacting through someone else’s wallet rather than your own is almost like a “Digital Hundi” or Sending money through the courier service which was actually one of the ways to send money in Bangladesh prior to the launch of MFS.

What was the motivation for new regulatory guidelines for MFS in Bangladesh?

MFS has always been a key focus for the regulators, specially Bangladesh Bank. Despite the rapid development of MFS and the huge potential to grow and reach the remotest corners of Bangladesh to boost financial inclusion, complete financial inclusion via mobile banking has yet to reach its full potential. OTC or unregistered use of MFS is one of the biggest drawbacks of the service.

This is why the Bangladesh Bank has been working towards a revised guideline that can encourage appropriate business models that help the market reach its potential and create a win-win situation for all the entities in terms of equity shareholding. I believe that with a few minor changes, this new guideline could help boost MFS growth and ensure financial inclusion in Bangladesh

So what are the new guidelines, and do they help address the issues?

Here I’d like to discuss two of the major clauses included in the new Draft Guideline:

 

Clause 4.1

BB shall permit delivery of the following broad categories of financial services by scheduled commercial bank-led Mobile phone based Financial Service (MFS) platforms in Bangladesh.

Clause-5.2

The scheduled commercial bank-led MFS platforms may have both banks and non-bank entities including Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) as equity holders, subject to banks holding majority beneficial ownership in total equity, no bank or non-bank entity holding more than fifteen percent beneficial ownership in equity, and Beneficial ownership of MNOs in an MFS platform not exceeding thirty percent of its total equity.

 

In Clause 4.1 we see that it remains a bank-led model as specified by the previous guidelines published in 2011. However, Clause 5.2 requires that no bank or non-bank entity hold equity share more than 15% individually. Banks must have majority ownership and Telcos may not collectively hold more than 30%. This means MFS projects will become nobody’s baby! This potentially creates a huge issue in regards to ownership.

What is the alternative you recommend?

In my view, we should first study what’s happening worldwide and learn from that. We should deploy a model which will be beneficial for the people of the country and will be owned by both Telecom and Banks. Telcos are good at things like branding, marketing campaigns, product management, agent management. Banks are expected to safeguard funds. Hence a model in which each of these players can execute to the best of their capability will be a successful one. My proposal would be that there should not be any restriction on the ownership of MNOs or any other equity holders. We should follow the good examples available across the globe.

Apart from equity participation, in what other ways are Telcos held back due to the guidelines?

There are several other areas where Telcos are not allowed to participate in the current MFS services. For example, Telcos are not allowed to promote the product, brand the product or launch different campaigns to promote MFS services. Telcos are only allowed to offer Telecom Data or talk time) for MFS promotions.

How do you see the market developing as we move towards 2020?

In the next 5 years, I expect the MFS market to be more mature and more compliant. SIM verification and re-registration will be imposed on MFS as well which will eventually limit the OTC usage and encourage use of mobile wallets. More advanced services will be launched so that people start to use MFS for services other than the basic money transfer.

Government already disburses payments (G2P) through MFS. In 5 years from now, I expect P2G to increase in a big way, so that payments including fees and taxes reach the government through MFS. Mobile Top Up usage will increase even more and may reach approximately 50% of total Telecom Top Up value.

MFS providers will further pursue Omni channel strategies, with some already providing the service through apps and the web. MFS services will be offered through other mediums such as NFC and it will not be only limited to USSD, apps or web and launch of 4G services will further boost usage.

Mobile Number Portability will be introduced in the country and, the need of having more than one MFS account with different Telecom operators will gradually decrease.

As stated by Bangladesh Bank, over the last couple of years, we have found that people at the “bottom of the pyramid” have been able to greatly increase their economic activities and that volume is increasing significantly each day. This contribution directly impacts the transactions volume in mobile banking.

Overall I look forward to MFS playing a major role in the growth of GDP of our country.

 raihan

 

Ruhullah Raihan Alhusain is a payments professional with over 12 years of work experience in Mobile Banking Field. He graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with Honors as Bachelor in Business Administration and led the Grameenphone mCommerce Operation Finance team before moving to airtel where he is Head of mCommerce Operations

Governance and Audit Scope of Mobile Banking in Bangladesh

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As the number of registered mobile banking users in Bangladesh approach 10 million, Raihan Alhusain, Head of mCommerce Operations in Airtel Bangladesh offers his expert practitioner insight into how the mobile financial services guidelines issued two years ago support the remarkable growth in the country. He reflects on areas in which regulations could benefit from extension to support new scenarios stemming from this rapid growth.

Views specified are solely Raihan’s personal views as an expert in the mobile banking sector. This interview is part of the research Shift Thought conducted in the release of our “Digital Money in Bangladesh 2014” Viewport.

Background

In September 2011 Bangladesh Bank published the Mobile Financial Services (MFS) Guidelines allowing commercial banks in Bangladesh to start bank-led mobile financial services. The guidelines describes the services that may be offered, including a broad range that are required to promote financial inclusion. Only the bank-led model is permitted. The guidelines prescribe essential governance processes including licensing, agent management, AML/KYC, education of customers and agents, building awareness of customer services, security and controls related to technology, data retention policy and reporting and more.

Q: Why is this a good time to discuss 2-year old regulations?

image_thumb2Today the number of people in Bangladesh using financial services delivered through their mobile phones is fast approaching 10 million. Since the start of these services in 2011 when DBBL started without distributors, the systems have grown more sophisticated and with greater coverage so that now all the usage scenarios and implications are of great importance across the country. The guidelines issued by Bangladesh Bank as Central Bank and main regulator of financial services underpin the delivery of services. However along with the guidelines I thought it important to discuss the practical checks and balances these new systems imply in greater detail at this juncture.

Currently banks and mobile network operators (MNOs) execute agreements to ensure network coverage and agents reach for the service. The audit and governance scope of mobile banking in Bangladesh mainly focus on adherence to the policy established by the guidelines. Additionally as practitioners we continue to learn about governance and audit and determine the best ways for responsibilities to work across partners. By reflecting on these there may be useful points for others in Bangladesh as well as for other bank-based branchless banking developments in India, Nigeria and elsewhere around the world.

Q: What is the concept of a trust account in mobile banking and why is it important?

In the bank-led model adopted in Bangladesh, banks are the custodians of funds deposited against each mobile wallet. Even though the guidelines do not include the trust account mechanism, in order to be aligned with the guidelines, funds kept in the bank must to be treated as a liability and may not be used for operational purposes. This applies to Telco-led models as well. The accounting book should clearly mention the accumulated amount through a specific general ledger code, following IFRS (International Financial reporting standards) principles. The audit scope in this aspect should include a complete checking of the trust account mechanism.

Q: What is the concept of a book balance mechanism and why is it important?

At any point of time, the relevant balance in the bank book shall be equal to the virtual balance of all registered mobile accounts shown in the system. This means at any point in time, reconciliation processes must be in place to allow the following to be checked:

Bank Balance = Channel Balance (Agent Wallet Balance+ Distributor Wallet Balance) + Bank Branch Wallet Balance (If Banks deploy their own Branch to work as channel for Mobile Banking) + ATM Wallet Balance (If Banks deploy their own ATM channel to work as channel for Mobile Banking) + Registered Customer Wallet Balance + Merchant Point Wallet Balance + Commission Wallet Balance.

If a Bank disburses commission related to mobile banking through the mobile banking platform, it must keep an equal amount of funds in the account.

All virtual points created in the economy must be backed by the balance kept in the Bank. This mechanism is very important and should be adhered by so that virtual money is not created in the economy without being backed up by physical cash in the Bank.

The audit scope of this section should involve the matching of general ledger virtual wallet balances against the bank account balances.

Q: What are some of the compliance processes and issues relating to agent and partner management?

The Cash Points/ Agents are to be selected by the bank and a list with their names and addresses must be submitted to the Department of Currency Management and Payment System (DCMPS), Bangladesh Bank. This list must be updated on a monthly basis. Banks may need to develop their own Agent Accreditation Policy for this purpose. This policy should include assessment of competence to implement and support the proposed activity, financial soundness, ability to meet commitments under adverse conditions, business reputation, security and internal control, audit coverage, reporting and monitoring environment.

Banks have to follow the full KYC policy issued by Anti Money Laundering Department (AMLD) of Bangladesh Bank for the cash points/agents/partners. Banks bear all the liabilities that arise from improper action on the part of their subsidiaries/cash points/agents/partners. Banks need to perform periodic audits of the agent locations in order to ensure proper processes are being carried out by them. Strict action should be taken by the banks against the agents for not following the processes.

The audit scope in this section should include a complete checking on the modus operandi between the banks and the agents/ partners.

Q: What are your thoughts on audit relating to transaction management?

Clear guidelines have been issued by Bangladesh Bank relating to the transaction limits as well as overall caps including limits per customer, per agent and per month. Service charges have been fixed for each transaction. Banks need to ensure that these limits and caps are built into the mobile banking platform and service charge rules are set up as per the policy. Periodic audit is needed to ensure that this continues to be properly applied.

Q: What are some of the processes that must be followed regarding KYC management?

Banks have to use the prescribed ‘Know Your Customer (KYC)' format as given in the MFS guidelines. The Bank will be responsible to ensure that KYC processes implement guidelines issued by Anti Money Laundering Department of Bangladesh Bank (AMLD) for all customers and across all agents and partners. Banks need to ensure that the agents are properly trained in KYC management and also ensure that agent KYC has been checked and maintained properly while registering the agent.

The Audit Scope for KYC management should include the modus operandi of registering agents by Banks, checking of the authenticity of the documents provided while registering customers and agents and also record keeping of the documents related to KYC.

Q: How is AML compliance assured for the new branchless banking transactions?

All transactions should be monitored through an IT-based system developed by the banks. Banks shall ensure that suspected transactions can be isolated for subsequent investigation. Banks shall develop an IT based automated system to identify suspicious activity/transactions (STR/SAR) before introducing the services. Banks are expected to immediately report to Anti‐Money Laundering Department of Bangladesh Bank regarding any suspicious, unusual or doubtful transactions likely to be related to money laundering or terrorist financing activities.

A periodic audit is needed to ensure the mechanism of reporting of suspicious transactions. The audit scope in this sector includes checking of rules set in the system based reporting mechanism which should be in in line with the AML act of Bangladesh.

Q: What are some of the processes and issues expected to be followed relating to security?

Banks must follow the Guidelines on ICT Security for Scheduled Banks and Financial Institutions, 2010 issued by the Bangladesh Bank and ICT Act, 2006 to address the security issues of Mobile Financial Services which will address issues of confidentiality, integrity, authorization and non-repudiation for each transaction through the portal. Apart from the PIN, a second factor of authentication should be built‐in for additional security as chosen by the bank. A periodic audit must take place to ensure the implementation of security policy as mentioned in the guidelines.

Q: How is the customer required to be protected by the guidelines?

As per the MFS guidelines banks are held responsible for protecting consumer rights and for dispute resolution. Banks may address dispute resolution with the assistance of selected partners and agents. The Audit scope in this sector may include the checking of bank policy and turn-around time (TAT) for dispute resolution. It may also look into the proactive approach banks have taken to ensure better customer services to the customers and agents.

Q: Please share your final thoughts on governance and audit of processes relating to mobile banking

Bangladesh Mobile Banking has seen a tremendous growth in the last few months and is expected to achieve more than 15 million mobile banking accounts at the end of 2014 by reaching over 110 million cell phone users, where 60% are unbanked out of the population of 160 million.

Considering this success, growth, and expectation, in my opinion some of the gray areas that were not covered by the MFS guidelines need to be revisited. For example, both Banks and MNOs need to work together with the policy makers to set policies in regards to Branding, Platform Management and Marketing. This will set clear guidelines for everyone on the Do’s and Don’ts of each sector. MNOs, who have the greatest reach and expertise on Branding and Marketing need to be able to help banks to reach the expected number of mobile banking accounts through innovative marketing strategies, branding concepts and campaigns.

Apart from this, another area which needs to be taken care of is the modus operandi related to Payment Services. Through separate permissions granted by Bangladesh Bank, most of the MNOs provide various payment services such as BillPay, Railway Ticketing using their own platform. They have also integrated their platforms with those of the banks to offer various financial services. A common guideline needs to be issued and added to the MFS guidelines to clearly mention the modus operandi and policy with regards to these kinds of services.

In conclusion, I must say that for MFS in Bangladesh the sky is the limit. I am sure Bangladesh will be an example for the whole world in the setting up successful mobile financial services and also in establishing our main objective of banking the unbanked through mobile financial services. Just imagine what we can already do today in Bangladesh using mobile banking. We can pay our electricity, gas and water bills, buy railway tickets, send money to loved ones, receive salary, cash-out through ATMs and designated outlets, top up mobiles and more. Kudos to the banks, MNOs and the policy makers, Great achievement indeed!!!!

About the Author

raihan_thumb5Ruhullah Raihan Alhusain is a professional with over 9 years of experience in Mobile Banking. He graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with an Honors Bachelor in Business Administration. He started his career in mCommerce in Bangladesh with Grameenphone Ltd., a Telenor ASA. As Head of mCommerce Operations at Airtel Bangladesh Raihan continues to passionately build and launch specialised products in co-operation with DBBL. Recent projects include micro credit disbursement through mobile banking, airtime sales proceeds collection, mobile banking through modern trade such as ACI Swapno and mobile top-up with bKash.

Mobile Banking in Bangladesh – striding across regulatory divides through savvy Marketing

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In this guest post Raihan Alhusain, Head of mCommerce Operations, Airtel Bangladesh provides unique insights and practitioner experiences of the tremendous work in progress in Bangladesh. What strikes me from my interview with Raihan and the experiences he has shared is that the consumer is truly placed at the centre when mobile operators and banks come together in an earnest attempt to leverage the best strengths of each partner.

 

The early days of BillPay

imageThe story of Mobile Banking in Bangladesh starts in December 2006 with the launch of BillPay by a Mobile Network Operator (MNO). I was a part of the team that launched the service. We started everything from scratch, designing the financial operation process, the product, reconciliation and payment process. When BillPay became available across the country I felt that I was blessed, I felt that I was doing something good for my country and for the people. Until now, whenever I see the BillPay sign I feel the pride of launching the service in Bangladesh.

In the early days, customer education and customer trust were the biggest challenges for my team. The service was launched in Chittagong and soon started to create interest amongst the customers. Customers were most attracted by the convenience. At one point in time, people in the Chittagong region were able to pay water, electricity and gas bills through the BillPay platform.

imageBillPay used two models, one with 100% validation of data and the other with zero validation of data. The utility company, having automated billing and payment data mainly used the validated system of BillPay. This means whenever customer paid a bill of a specific month, the billing data used to get verified through the utility company billing server and after the payment was made, the payment data was also verified and posted automatically.

What didn’t go well though was the need for manual posting of BillPay data. For some of the utility companies, posting of payment data was totally manual and MNOs had to send paper based payment data to the decentralized offices of the utility company. This process required manual intervention and extensive man-hours to post data.

Then came Railway Ticketing. The same MNO launched the service under a new name. This created another option for BillPay wallet customers. They were able to not only pay electricity, gas and water bills but also to pay for their railway ticketing. This removed the hassle of manual processing of railway ticket payments and added another milestone to the automated payment system in Bangladesh. However, mobile banking through the BillPay platform offered the payment services and fund deposit (Cash in) only. Cash Out was not available.

MFS Guidelines arrive

In 2011 the MFS Guidelines took complete shape and were published by the Bangladesh Bank – a bank-led Branchless Banking model was introduced. One of the major local banks first launched the complete mobile banking facility allowing customers to withdraw cash from the authorized outlets of the bank and also through ATM.

This model was agent initiated. That means most of the revenue generating transactions were initiated through the agent wallet. DBBL signed an agreement with several telcos to ensure the availability of mobile banking at their networks. Since this model was agent initiated, the agreements with telcos also ensured Telco Agent networks could be used for Mobile Banking.

What went well in this model was the Trust Factor. Mobile banking with a bank added more trust in the mind of customers. What did not go well was the channel/ distribution model they used. Initially all the agents belonging to them were directly connected to their Bank Branches. This means an agent had to go all the way to branches for mobile banking (Cash in and Out from agent wallets).

The learning continues

imageShortly after this a subsidiary of another SME based local bank launched their service. Their model was completely customer initiated. All they needed to do, was to sign up with the MNO for access through USSD. They did not depend on the Telco agent to expand their channel reach.

They came up with a distribution channel structure similar to that of the MNO. What went well for them was their expertise in running an effective channel and their strategy towards establishment of their Brand. Their brand achieved more prominence than the other brands in the country. They also signed an agreement with several telcos that ensures the availability of their services across networks.

Both the players ensured the availability of the mobile banking services through the USSD network. The success of this partnership depended on several initiatives taken by both bank and telco partners. Initiatives such as B2B (Channel Payment), P2B (Merchant Solution), B2P (Salary Disbursement, Micro Credit Disbursement), G2P (Government Allowance Payment) brought ease in the life of customers, increased revenue for the Banking Partners as well as ensured stickiness to the MNO SIMs.

Mobile banking goes mainstream

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According to Bangladesh Bank sources, 17 banks now offer mobile financial services (MFS) within just three years. Mainstream PCBs (private commercial banks) now provide services. For instance, we have Brac Bank's bKash, DBBL mobile banking, IBBL MCash, the Prime Bank Easy Cash and more. The number of mobile banking accounts is about 7.21 million with about 0.108 million agents countrywide. The volume of transaction was $1,030 million in the first quarter of 2013. Significant achievements indeed!

Personally this has been an exciting journey for me as I look back and compare what our services could do for customers with just BillPay, and what we can now do for unbanked customers. This makes every experience precious, and justifies all the hard work from our regulators and people across all the different industries.

About the Author

raihanRuhullah Raihan Alhusain is a professional with over 9 years of experience in Mobile Banking. He graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with an Honors Bachelor in Business Administration. He started his career in mCommerce in Bangladesh with Grameenphone Ltd., a Telenor ASA. Today as Head of mCommerce Operations at Airtel Bangladesh Raihan continues to passionately build and launch specialised products in co-operation with DBBL. Recent projects include micro credit disbursement through mobile banking, airtime sales proceeds collection, mobile banking through modern trade such as ACI Swapno and mobile top-up with bKash.