Advancing Access to Digital Financial Services in Bangladesh: Regulatory Agenda

This study takes a 360-degree scan of the digital financial services (DFS) regulatory ecosystem in Bangladesh, looking at regulations, macro platforms, supply-side capability, willingness and challenges, demand-side readiness, knowledge and expectation, etc. The key objective of the study is to help DFS regulators to take stock of the DFS regulatory ecosystem and to identify areas for improvements.

The policy brief contains six practical recommendations for policy reforms and other measures in the existing DFS regulatory ecosystem which will encourage greater investment and innovation to achieve broader and deeper financial inclusion.

1. Roll out tiered-KYC (know your customer) and investigate the e-KYC potential given the rollout of smart national identification cards (NIDs).
2. Form a DFS Standing Committee involving institutions having interest in financial inclusion and DFS to define the strategies, policies, and operations relevant to DFS in Bangladesh.
3. Promote financial innovations by introducing a regulatory sandbox to test new products and services to curb over-the-counter transactions.
4. Synergize mobile financial services and agent banking guidelines to enhance financial inclusion.
5. Continue to invest in technical and business infrastructure within BB.
6. Enhance the supervisory framework for DFS.