Loan disbursements through agent banking soared by 41.27 per cent against 16.52 per cent growth in deposit collection in the January-March period of 2024 compared with those in the same period in the previous year.
According to Bangladesh Bank data, deposits鈥� balance in agent banking outlets increased by Tk聽5,228 crore to Tk聽36,870 crore in January-March in 2024 from that of Tk聽31,641 crore in the same period in 2023.
It was Tk 36,358 crore in the October-December period.
Loan disbursements through agent banking shot up to Tk聽16,482 crore in January-March period in 2024 compared with that of Tk 11,667 crore in January-March in 2023.
It was Tk聽15,407 crore in December, 2023.
The volume of lending in the agent banking accounts and the volume of deposits through these accounts increased by 6.98 per cent and 1.41 per cent respectively from the previous quarter.
Since access to finance is one of the key challenges of financial inclusion, lending through agent banking is explicitly beneficial for rural customers in developing countries, the BB in its quarterly report said.
As of March 2024, rural customers received Tk 10,679 crore (64.79 per cent) of the total loan disbursed through agent banking channel, which was very much in line with the objective of the agent banking to enhance the rural people鈥檚 access to finance.
According to the central bank data, the number of accounts opened through agent banking reached 22,250,305. Of which 11,060,879 accounts (49.71 per cent) belong to female customers, and the rest belongs to male.
It indicates that more female customers are coming forward to opening accounts and getting almost equal access to the financial services through agent banking compared with male customers, the BB report said.
In addition, 19,145,672 accounts (86.05 per cent) belong to customers in the rural areas.
The highest number of accounts and the highest amount of balance were in the form of savings.
Remittance collection through agents also increased in the reporting month.
At the end of March 2024, Tk 1,49,916 crore remittance was disbursed through agent banking.
Agent banking is an alternative way to provide banking services to underprivileged population in the rural areas especially to those living in remote areas.
The Bangladesh Bank introduced agent banking in 2013.
Compared with the traditional banking system, it is a less costly system where customers are able to receive various banking services on a real-time basis from the platform through an agent, the BB in the report said.
At present, 31 banks are operating agent banking activities in Bangladesh. Of them, the top five banks registered more than 73 per cent of the total outlets.
As of March 2024, the total number of agents and outlets were 15,835 and 21,613 respectively.