Agent Outlets

Background

Bank Asia limited a 3rd Generation Commercial Bank established by renowned businessman and dedicated experience Bankers with a vision to provide state of art banking service for mass people. They have successfully acquired the business of 2(two) foreign Banks, The Muslim Commercial Bank and Scotia Bank. Bank Asia has expanded its Branch network all over Bangladesh and have foreign correspondent net work all over the world including own Exchange House abroad. Till now all Banks are operating their business in Urban and semi urban area leaving large numbers of un-banked rural people. To connect the geographically dispersed population to banking net has started Agent Banking recently through Bank’s authorized agent. Bank Asia is the pioneer have successfully introduced Agent Banking in 6(six) Upazila under Munshiganj District as a pilot Project. This success has given the confidence to expand the project all over Bangladesh.

Executive Summary

Agent Banking provides banking and financial services to the underserved population through engaged agents under a valid agency agreement, rather than a teller/ cashier. Agent is the owner of an outlet who conducts banking transactions on behalf of a bank. Globally these retailers are increasingly utilized as important distribution channels for financial inclusion. Bangladesh Bank has also decided to promote this complimentary channel to reach to the poor segment of the society as well as existing bank customer especially to geographically dispersed locations with a range of financial services. Bank Asia started pilot phase of Agent Banking upon approval of Bangladesh Bank in Munshiganj District. Ten agents are already providing services and few others are on process to start services in Munshiganj district under this pilot phase. The agent banking model is one in which banks provide financial services through nonbank agents, such as educated individuals, chain grocery stores, retail outlets, post offices, pharmacies or NGOs. This model allows banks to expand services into areas where they do not have sufficient incentive or capacity to establish a formal branch, which is particularly true in rural and poor areas where as a result a high percentage of people are unbanked. Agent banking is quickly becoming recognized as a viable strategy in many countries for extending formal financial services into poor and rural areas. In recent years, agent banking has been adopted and implemented with varying degrees of success by a number of developing countries. Brazil is often recognized as a global pioneer in this area since it was an early adopter of the model and over the years has developed a mature network of agent banks covering more than 99% of the country’s municipalities. Other countries have followed suit, including Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Argentina, Bolivia, Pakistan, Philippines, Kenya, South Africa, Uganda and India. The regulation, design, and implementation of agent banking vary across countries. These differences are evident in the variety of services offered by agents, the types of businesses acting as agents, the types of financial institutions that work through agents and the business structures employed to manage them. These differences ultimately contribute to the disparities in the extent to which agent banking is actually bridging the financial inclusion gap. The term financial inclusion refers to a broad financial system that provides access to financing, mobilization of savings, credit allocation, risk management as well as payment services. Financial inclusion refers to both the adequate provision of services by the financial institutions as well as the appropriate uptake or use of these services by all segments of the population. Although it is just one aspect of financial inclusion, an integrated payment system is a critical component of financial inclusion.

Vision

To bring low cost, secured financial services at the doorstep of the unbanked people of Bangladesh as a part of financial inclusion for empowerment

Mission

The mission of Agent Banking is to create more protected financial inclusion by offering technology driven banking solutions to the unbanked people living in rural and dispersed people of Bangladesh.

Objectives

Bank Asia Agent Banking success depends on meeting the following objectives:

Provide secured banking services to the unbanked people throughout the country Build agent booths all over the country and create financial service entrepreneurs Setting up District/ Upazila Level back office throughout the country Provide foreign inward remittance services to the families of expatriate Bangladeshis Provide facilities for utility bill payment, Passport fee payment, social safety net payment services, etc. Process Agricultural, SME & Retail loan from the agent points Enable e-Commerce services through the agent points Promote school banking in the locality Train and Develop the prospective SME entrepreneurs Financing solar home system and renewable energy sectors as a green banking initiative

Keys to Success

To achieve its objectives, Bank Asia Agent Banking will follow these principles:

Deployment of the state-of-art technology for agent banking Remain independent of direct affiliate ties to any specific agents Think of each client's needs holistically for potential financial inclusion Maintain reputation of Banking services with security Establish a strong monitoring system for offsite and onsite supervision Company Summary Bank Asia is a scheduled commercial bank licensed from the Bangladesh Bank.