Addressing Market Demand through Agent Banking

• May 19, 2022
• 1 min

We supported the Bangladesh Bank and Business For Poor in Bangladesh (BFP-B) in this Nathan Associates-funded study. The specific objectives of the study were to: 1) Understand the responses of the banking industry to licenses and regulations issued by Bangladesh Bank to trigger agent banking expansion among others.

We supported the Bangladesh Bank and Business For Poor in Bangladesh (BFP-B) in this Nathan Associates-funded study. The specific objectives of the study were to: 1) Understand the responses of the banking industry to licenses and regulations issued by Bangladesh Bank to trigger agent banking expansion; 2) Examine demand, supply, and regulatory issues in agent banking, and understand how these interact with other demand, supply, and regulatory issues in complementary markets, such as mobile financial service (MFS) and microfinance services; 3) Explore the customer data analytics (based on gender) of the existing agent banking customers covering CMEs and individuals and product penetration to understand the customer demand along with agent banking deposit and lending portfolios; 4) Understand the future market competition from other financial services providers and fintechs; 5) Combine deep understanding and experience of the evolution of local markets with knowledge of global insights and best practices; 6) Provide practical policy options that will help Bangladesh Bank further review the agent banking policy to address the market demand.