Four people have won motorbikes by making the highest weekly scores in a game played on mobile financial service Nagad's app. The bikes were recently handed over to Tahmina Akhter Lilly, M Hazrat Ali, Akhiful and Rihat Hasan Tuhin in the capital. Read more: Nagad wins UK-based Global Brand Award 2022 Nagad users played the game under "10 Takar Offer," a mobile recharge campaign, which ran from October 18 to November 14.  Nagad Chief Commercial Officer Sadat Adnan Ahmad, Chief Operating Officer Golam Mortuza Chowdhury, Chief Corporate Governance Officer and Chief Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Officer Nurul Alam, Head of Strategy Department Salahuddin Mohammed Yousuf, Head of Digital Marketing Romael Hasan Wahid, General Manager Abu Sufian Mohammad Khaled, Deputy General Manager (Brand) Ali Ahsan, and Head of Customer Service Kaushik Saha were present at the prize giving ceremony. Read more: Nagad declares charge-free services for police Around 148,093 Nagad customers took part in the 10 Takar Dour. Each of the 100 top scorers during every campaign day received a prize of Tk100. Sadat Adnan said: "Nagad regularly arranges such games for its users to make their leisure time more enjoyable as well as offer them chances to win exciting prizes."

Digital Bangladesh is a resounding success and Nagad, a mobile financial service of Bangladesh Postal Department, is a vivid example of that success, Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar has said. “Bangladesh is an agriculture-dependent country, but many are now envious of its rapid technological development. One of the major positive outcomes of digitalisation is that we have almost moved towards a cashless society,” the minister told journalists at a programme marking Digital Bangladesh Day-2022 in Daak Bhaban, on Monday.  Read more: FY22: Nagad 3rd highest VAT-paying company in service category, says NBR “We can now make all kinds of financial transactions, including cash-out and cash-in and shopping, through mobile financial services,” Jabbar said, adding that Nagad is playing a big role in this regard. Starting off in 2019, Nagad has now become one of the most popular MFS in the country, he noted. Bangladesh Posts and Telecommunications Division organised a “Digital Postal Service Exhibition” to celebrate Digital Bangladesh Day on Tuesday. It also held a meeting with Posts and Telecommunications Secretary Md Khalilur Rahman in the chair. Presenting a keynote, Prof Dr Mohammad Mahfuzul Islam, vice-chancellor of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Digital University, said, “The most digitalisation has happened in Bangladesh’s financial sector. Mobile financial service providers in particular have revolutionised this field. We can mention the name of Nagad as an example.” Read more: Nagad wins Mastercard Excellence Award 2022 in two categories Posts and Telecommunications Secretary Md Khalilur Rahman shared his experience about Digital Bangladesh with everyone and urged all to adapt to the progress. Dr Md Rafiqul Matin, managing Director of Bangladesh Telecommunications Company Ltd, and Brigadier General Md Nasim Parvej, director general of Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, and Shyam Sunder Sikder, chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, also spoke on the occasion. Md Harunur Rashid, director general of the Postal Department, gave the welcome address. There were eight stalls at the Postal Department’s exhibition. The visitors were appraised of different digital services, such as electronic money transfer service, postal cash card, online postal life insurance, digital land services, and mobile financial service of Nagad, etc.  Mustafa Jabbar and other guests visited these stalls. Guests came to Nagad’s stall and enquired about cash-out, cash-in and other services. They also learned about how to buy products using the Nagad wallet. Nagad officials gave the guests an idea of how much money is being saved every year as a result of the distribution of various government allowances through Nagad.

Bangladesh Bank has allowed mobile financial service (MSF) providers to bring inward remittance, in order to increase remittance inflow. The foreign exchange policy department of Bangladesh Bank issued a circular in this regard on Tuesday. According to the circular, authorized dealers can make drawing arrangements directly with exchange houses abroad without prior permission from Bangladesh Bank. Read more: Bangladesh Bank allows export income, remittance through MFS Authorized dealers are also allowed to go for drawing arrangements without letters of reference or certificates from the Bangladesh embassy or high commission of the respective country. In order to bring wider flexibility, MFS providers will be allowed to repatriate wage earners’ remittance in association with internationally recognized online payment gateway service providers, banks, digital wallets, card schemes, and aggregators abroad, said the Bangladesh Bank notification. In this context, MFS providers must have standing arrangements with foreign PSPs to receive foreign currency in their account, and equivalent taka value will be credited to the wage earners’ MFS accounts. Subsequently, foreign PSPs will provide credit to the designated dealer’s Nostro account (an account that a bank holds in a foreign currency in another bank). After receiving the amount in taka, wage earners’ can use the MFS account from abroad to do all transactions in Taka. Read more: BFIU suspends cash out from 230 MFS accounts over transactions through hundi Mobile financial services who want to provide repatriation services have to apply to Foreign Exchange  Policy Department by December 31, 2022, with details of proposed arrangements in accordance with the framework outlined above or similar conducive procedures. Bangladesh Bank will primarily accord permissions, to review arrangements for piloting the initiative. Bangladesh rolled out MFS in 2011. Since then, the service has seen a boom in the country. At present, 13 MFS operators are providing services to more than 18 crore account holders who are transferring nearly Tk 3,000 crore daily.

Through the opening of 11 additional 'Nagad-Sheba' points, the Bangladesh Postal Department's mobile financial service Nagad’s service centers are now available in a total of 45 locations across the country. With the expansion of ‘Nagad-Sheba’ to 11 additional places in Bangladesh, officials anticipate that customers will now receive more services. Previously, Nagad was operating 34 'Nagad-sheba' to seamlessly solve various customer concerns making their experience more pleasant. This time, 11 additional service centers have been established to improve and increase the service, says a press release on Monday. Dinajpur, Jhenaidah, Brahmanbaria, Feni, Bhola, Patuakhali, Netrakona, Sirajganj, Narsingdi, Rangamati, and Chandpur district head post offices are among the 11 new service centers. Read: A group has long been unhappy with Nagad's success: Jabbar 45 'Nagad-Sheba' centers are now accessible to the customers. These are Dinajpur, Jhenaidah, Brahmanbaria, Feni, Bhola, Patuakhali, Netrakona, Sirajganj, Narsingdi, Rangamati, Chandpur, Dhaka GPO, Khulna GPO, Chattagram GPO, Rajshahi GPO, Barisal, Tongi, Banani, Khilgaon, Mirpur, Sylhet, Narayanganj, Rangpur, Comilla, Jessore, Mymensingh, Gazipur, Bogra, Jigatala, Uttara, Savar, Faridpur, Panchagarh, Tangail, Cox's Bazar, Bandarban, Gopalganj, Noakhali, Magura, Barguna, Manikganj, Jamalpur, Naogaon, Satkhira and Nagad Sheba center at Nagad head offices. Meanwhile, the service will be available from 9 am to 4 pm every day at the Nagad head office. Besides, all ‘Nagad-Sheba’ will be open from 8 am to 3 pm as per the government’s directives. With the launch of these 11 additional ‘Nagad Sheba’, the Nagad service has been expanded across 8 divisions of Bangladesh. Also, customers will now have access to ‘Nagad-Sheba’ in 37 districts across the nation. Customers will receive assistance in setting or resetting their PIN at the ‘Nagad-Sheba’ centers. In addition, KYC re-submission and information can also be updated there. All services associated with the 'Nagad' account will be offered. Moreover, consumers can submit any complaints or feedback to this service center. These service locations serve an average of 120 people each day. Now, an average of 5,400 consumers each day can avail any Nagad services. During the disbursement of the government safety net, each service center handles an average of 1,500 customers every day. On average, around 68,000 customers will receive direct assistance at these service centers each day across the nation. At the same time, employees in Nagad-Sheba were further increased. Read: Nagad launches Tk10 mobile phone airtime recharge offer Commenting on the opening of additional service centers Shihab Uddin Chowdhury the Chief Sales Officer of Nagad, stated, "Nagad is continuously striving to make the customer's experience simpler. This endeavor has yielded a variety of digital services so far. Now, users may access all services, including account opening, from the comfort of their own homes. Nonetheless, we are increasing our physical customer service center through which, we want all of our customers to have access to Nagad as per their requirements. These service centers will provide all the necessary services.  Beyond this, our customer service helpline is open 24/7/.”

Mobile financial service arm of Bangladesh Post office Nagad is currently distributing 75 percent of social safety allowances administered by the Department of Social Services(DSS) successfully. Outgoing Director General of the Department of Social Service (DSS) Sheikh Rafiqul Islam made the remark recently. Government allowances are distributed by the DSS to the elderly, widows, underprivileged disabled, and disabled students who are the most underprivileged segment of the society. The director general of the DSS said, "We have worked with society's least educated and most disadvantaged people. Many of them cannot use mobile phones and do not have any idea about OTP or PIN keys. The formidable challenge of accessing or transacting money through mobile financial services by these people have been accomplished and Nagad was instrumental in overcoming this obstacle.” Read: Nagad sets up solar billboards to cut electricity consumption He added, “Providing allowances in such regions posed many difficulties. In Rangabali of Patuakhali, a portion of our allowance was distributed in the summer when the sea was turbulent. At that time, the employees of Nagad navigated the stormy sea and accounted for the Rangabali people." He said, “The management of Nagad is extremely dynamic, visionary, and competent. In a very short period, they expanded the number of employees, trained them, and helped open 60 lakh accounts. They have performed this feat with exceptional skill.” “According to our reports, they disbursed allowances in a transparent manner and we have not yet received any complaints regarding Nagad's allowance distribution,” he said Earlier in January 2021 the Primer Sheikh Hasian formally inaugurated the social safety net allowances disbursement and later in March this year the authority has renewed the agreement with Nagad. With the safety net allowances and education stipend Nagad, the disruptive mobile financial service has disbursed more than BDT 15,000 crore of Government to the distressed people.

Nagad, the Mobile Financial Service of Bangladesh Postal Department, has launched a service for the users to transfer funds from Meghna Bank to their Nagad wallet. The service was recently inaugurated through an event organized at Meghna Bank Limited’s head office. Nagad customers will be able to add money from Meghna Bank to their wallets at any moment in a convenient and risk-free way as a result of this partnership save both time and money for the Nagad users and Meghna Bank's customers. Read: Pay ‘Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms’ fees through Nagad Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nagad Rahel Ahmed said, "We have created opportunities for our valued customers to add money to Nagad wallet from numerous of the commercial banks in the country. With this agreement, customers will be able to transact more easily.” Nagad has introduced the 'Bank to Nagad' add money service in order to provide consumers with faster and better service. Customers may use this service to send money to any Nagad account instantaneously and free of charge using internet banking and the mobile app. Besides, customers will be able to transfer from Tk 50-50,000 into any Nagad account every day. As a result, each user will be able to transfer up to Tk 3 lakh per month into their Nagad wallet. Read CMP to provide security to Nagad customer’s financial transactions Among the banks that are now able to instantly transfer money to the Nagad wallet using the internet banking services are Dhaka Bank, Midland Bank, Meghna Bank Limited, Exim Bank, Mutual Trust Bank, First Security Islami Bank, Community Bank, Shahajalal Islami Bank, NRB Bank, Social Islami Bank, Premier Bank, IFIC Bank, Union Bank, NRBC Bank, National Bank, City Bank Limited, Standard Bank Limited, Bangladesh Development Bank Limited, Bengal Commercial Bank Limited, Rajshahi Krishi Unnayan Bank, Padma Bank Limited, Prime Bank Limited and Trust Bank Limited. Sohail RK Hussain, Managing Director and CEO of Meghna Bank Ltd, Shyamol B Das, Deputy Managing Director and CIO of Meghna Bank and M Nazeem A Choudhury, Head of Retail and SME Banking along with other officials were also present in the event. Read Nagad launches service for paying Mastercard Credit Card Bill

Mobile financial services provider Nagad's customers will get discounts while making payments for health checkup fees at several hospitals, mental health centres and dental care. They will get a discount of up to Tk2,350 on Nagad payment for special health checkups at United Hospital till May 31.  For routine health checkups of customers or their loved ones, customers can buy a health card of Tk1,000 from Sakib 75 Health Care and get a discount of Tk600 if they make the payment through Nagad. The offer can be availed multiple times till July 15. Also Read: Zakat can be donated to Islamic organisations through Nagad Nagad is offering up to a 25 percent discount on certain services at Dhaka City Physiotherapy Hospital. The offer will be valid till 15 July. Customers at Zaynax Health can get a 20 percent discount on healthcare by making a payment through Nagad, which will be valid through July 15. They will get up to 50 percent discount on specific dental treatments at Dental Pixel Hospital on Nagad payment till July 15. Read Eid: Nagad offers up to 35% cashback, discount on shopping Customers can receive discounts of up to 15 percent and 5 percent while making payments for mental healthcare through Nagad at LifeSpring and Bangladesh Psychiatric. The offers will be valid till December 31 at LifeSpring and August 31 at Bangladesh Psychiatric Care.

Bangladesh Bank (BB) has re-fixed the mobile financial service (MFS) transaction ceiling in order to ease payment and transaction during  Eid-ul-Fitr. The central bank has also withdrawn the number of daily transaction times and  fixed the daily cash-out limit at Tk 25000 from agent point while the monthly transaction limit is Tk 150000. Also read: BB issues revised agent banking guidelines The cash-in limit is fixed at Tk30000 while the monthly limit is set at Tk200000, the person to person (p2p) cash transfer limit has been set at Tk25,000 daily and Tk 200000 monthly. The MFS account can keep a maximum balance of Tk 300000 in each account. Besides, bank account to mobile financial service daily money transfer limit has been set at Tk 50,000 while monthly limit at Tk 300000. Also read: BB starts releasing new notes ahead of Eid

Postal Department's Mobile Financial Service 'Nagad' organised “Workshop 2022“ with the objective of providing guidance to BPO officials in conducting operations of the Bangladesh Postal Department and Nagad. The training workshop was held on Monday in the auditorium of the Directorate of the Posts in the capital’s Agargaon. Mustafa Jabbar, Minister for Posts and Telecommunications, was present as the Chief Guest of the training workshop, while Md. Khalilur Rahman, Secretary of Posts and Telecommunications Division was present as a special guest, along with other senior officials from the Postal Department. Also read: Nagad Islamic brings zakat calculator Md. Siraz Uddin, Director-General of the Postal Department, presided over the workshop which was also attended by Md. Shafayet Alam, Executive Director of Nagad, Lt. Col Md. Kousar Soukat Ali (retd), Chief External Affairs Officer of Nagad and Md. Mahbub Alam, PPM, DIG (retd) among others, says a press release. Speaking as the chief guest on the occasion, Mustafa Jabbar said, “Nowadays, Nagad has taken the position of the postal department's money order. Nagad has gone a long way today, thanks to the hard work. I was surprised when Nagad first approached me with the concept of registering an account in a minute.” “Many organizations have tried to compete with bKash, but none have succeeded. However, Nagad has gone far more than 'bKash' by bringing innovations. Tanvir and Shafayet deserve credit for this,”he added. Read Healthcare payments: Nagad offers discounts of up to Tk2,350 Khalilur Rahman said, “Nagad conducts everyday transactions of Tk 750 crore. The consumer base has grown to six crores in a very short period of time.” Through the workshop, local BPO officials were informed about the journey and activities of Nagad from the beginning of the journey to the present, as well as detailed operations of each department and subdivision of the organization (sales, customer service, finance and accounting, innovation and technology, legal, and external affairs) and steps taken by Nagad so far to prevent fraud. During the workshop Md. Shafayet Alam, Executive Director of Nagad highlighted the various activities of 'Nagad' to the participants present and addressed various questions. Also read: Nagad wins 'Best Innovative Digital Financial Services Brand' award Besides, BPO officials shared their important views on the Nagad and Postal department’s current and future achievements during the workshop. Previously, training workshops were held in Chattogram, Sylhet, Khulna, Barishal, and Bogra for all top officials from the Bangladesh Postal Department's Eastern, Northern, and Southern divisions who operate across the country. Following this, the training workshop on Mobile Financial Services Nagad was organized in Dhaka today. As of now, about 400 officials, including top officials from the Postal Department and the Post Directorate, have received an overview of Nagad through these workshops which also covered Nagad's journey to success in attaining financial inclusion, and local and international recognitions. Read Eid: Nagad offers up to 35% cashback, discount on shopping

Retired school teacher Sadekul Islam is too happy to get the opportunity of paying electricity bills through mobile financial service from his resident. Sadekul, has been living in his own house at the city’s Rampura-Banasree. Until recently the 67-year-old man had to depend on his home security guard to pay utility bills to avoid standing in a long queue outside a specific bank branch. Sometimes the security guard made mistakes in bills payment as he was illiterate. But Sadekul’s real trouble began when the guard left the job during the early wave of Covid-19 pandemic. Also read: BB concerned over security of nearly Tk 10,000 crore tied up in MFS This, however, led the aging man to learn from a relative how to pay bills through mobile phone services. Since then he has been happily using the mobile financial service (MFS) to pay utility bills, mobile flexi load, sending money to relatives and receiving, making servant’s dues payment, purchasing medicine and other necessary commodities etc. During the pandemic , the MFS brought great opportunities for Sadekul, who was able to bring money in his MFS account from banks’ accounts and make payment of necessary bills without any one’s assistance. “Never before had I thought that life would be so comfortable. It’s so easy to pay the bills through my mobile phone,” said Sadekul, looking relaxed. Rubina Akter (26), a garments factory worker in Ashulia, has also a similar story of life being made easy by the MFS. “Earlier I had worry much about how to send money to mother back home,” said Rubina. “Now I send the money through my mobile phone. The money reaches in just minutes.” She is now getting a salary at her MFS account. Before that she has to spend too much time in the queue for receiving salary and other allowances. Rubayet Ferdous, owner of a garments factory of Ashulia, told UNB that MFS and digital money transferring system have brought a revolutionary change in workers’ salary payment. Before the system came, they had to use trucks along with police scouts for carrying cash to pay the monthly salary of several thousands of workers. Applauding the MFS and digital payment systems, Ferdous said the industrial sector has got relief from a severe hazard of cash money handling, which is now happening within a moment only. Also read: Nagad wins 'Best Innovative Digital Financial Services Brand' award According to Bangladesh Bank (BB), the use of mobile financial service (MFS) has gained momentum in Bangladesh and monthly transactions would cross Tk 1.0 trillion (1 lakh crore) soon. Experts and sector insiders have said the number of transactions in MFS in the country is increasing with the number of customers due to the convenience of instant payment for purchasing and sending money anywhere in the country. The BB data shows that Mobile Banking transactions increased by Tk. 2210.8 crore or 3.11 percent to Tk. 73393.3 crore in January 2022 as compared to December 2021. During Jul2021-January2022 Mobile Banking transactions increased by Tk 99663.3 crore or 26.63 percent compared to the same period of the last year. Earlier in May, 2021, Tk 71,247 crore had been transferred through the MFS, which was the highest transition till the last eight months. In December 2021, the transition was made the 3rd record of Tk 71,182 crore. Former BB governor Dr Atiur Rahman told UNB that monthly mobile banking transactions would cross Tk 1.0 trillion if the current policy support continues. Dr Atiur, also a pioneer of mobile banking, said this service creates a huge amount of consumption at the macroeconomic level in the country. Md. Serajul Islam, executive director and BB spokesperson said the central bank is giving priority to build cashless inclusive financial system, where mobile banking is playing vital role. The BB would continue policy support to expand easy transaction systems like mobile banking and mobile financial service, he said.