Timed to coincide with the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr, the Bangladeshi government has announced that it will provide cash assistance of BDT 2,500 (USD 29) to each of 5 million Bangladeshi families that have been affected by COVID-19. As part of this program, the government-controlled Rupali Bank is disbursing BDT 2 billion (USD 23.6 million) to 800,000 of its customers. It is doing this via SureCash, a mobile-money firm that partners with five banks in Bangladesh. The recipients can withdraw the funds with no fees at 180,000 SureCash agent locations. In addition to mitigating the effects of the pandemic, the program is intended to promote wider access to financial technology (fintech) in the country.
Dr Shahadat Khan, the CEO of SureCash, explains, “This cashless aid distribution is a milestone for our dream of building Digital Bangladesh…to build a large database of beneficiaries from every nook and corner of the country and disburse government incentives directly to their mobile phones. We believe this is a big step forward to make integrated use of data, technology and experience to deliver better services to the people and take the country forward.”
Established in 2015, SureCash is a mobile financial platform that allows its 20 million customers to use their mobile phones “to make cash-in/cash-out transactions, person-to-person (P2P) money transfers, inward international remittances, government payments, school and college fee payments, utility bill payments, and payments for goods and services.” In addition to Rupali Bank, the company serves the customers of the National Credit and Commerce (NCC) Bank, First Security Islam Bank, Jamuna Bank and Bangladesh Commerce Bank.
Rupali Bank, which was established in 1972 as a result of the merger of the Muslim Commercial Bank, Australasia Bank and Standard Bank, operated as a nationalized bank until 1986 when the government released a minority of the bank’s shares to be publicly traded. Rupali Bank has 573 branches and BDT 464 billion (USD 5.5 billion) in total assets as of 2018. The government owns 90 percent of the bank’s shares as of 2020.
By Madigan Ruch, Research Associate
Sources and Additional Resources
Financial Express article on support for families from the government of Bangladesh
https://thefinancialexpress.com.bd/economy/govt-cash-gift-for-corona-affected-family-disbursed-through-rupali-bank-surecash-1589741050
Rupali Bank homepage
https://www.rupalibank.org/
SureCash homepage
https://www.surecash.net/
SureCash press release on scholarship program
https://www.surecash.net/successfully-providing-scholarships-through-digital-platform/
Rupali Bank 2018 annual report
https://www.rupalibank.org/news_details.php?type=Information&news_id=6356
Rupali Bank on its partnership with SureCash
https://www.rupalibank.org/mobile_banking/aboutus_details.php
Rupali Bank annual report
https://www.rupalibank.org/news_details.php?type=Information&news_id=6356
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