Bangladesh Bank鈥檚 long-awaited interoperable digital payment system failed to launch fully on November 1, as the country鈥檚 two largest mobile financial service providers, bKash and Nagad, remained outside the network.
The new system was designed to enable instant money transfers between mobile wallets, banks, and payment service providers.
Bangladesh Bank introduced the system at midnight November 1st with only a few participants despite earlier announcements that all providers would join on the same day.
According to BB鈥檚 latest MFS interoperability live transaction and testing status report, just five firms have joined the newly launched interoperable digital payment system in full operation, while most are either partially active or still under testing phase.
The interoperable payment system initially aimed to link 17 institutions, including four MFSs, two PSPs and eleven banks.
bKash, which dominates the MFS market, informed Bangladesh Bank at the last minute that it was not ready to join, citing the need to strengthen security features.
The company requested time until January 31 to complete integration with the National Payment Switch Bangladesh (NPSB), through which the interoperability system operates.
BB officials said that the central bank was caught off guard and embarrassed by the decision, as bKash had participated in all previous meetings and trials leading up to the launch.
It joined partially, with only incoming transactions active.
The second-largest MFS operator, Nagad, was excluded from the system altogether because it does not hold a formal licence.
Bangladesh Bank, which appointed an administrator to Nagad after last year鈥檚 regime change, said the operator cannot be included without proper licensing.
The exclusion, however, has raised questions about how the central bank continued to administer Nagad鈥檚 day-to-day operations while denying its participation in the interoperable framework. Nagad has been in operation since 2019.
At launch, only Islami Bank鈥檚 mCash joined the interoperability platform from the MFS side, while three banks鈥擨slami Bank, Mutual Trust Bank and Premier Bank鈥攚ere connected handling both incoming and outgoing transactions.
Islami Bank鈥檚 interoperability is functional through its internet banking platform.
TallyKhata, a PSP is handling both incoming and outgoing transactions.
Some participants are partially connected.
Pubali Bank has enabled only outgoing transactions, while Islamic Wallet and Dutch-Bangla Bank鈥檚 Rocket can process only incoming transfers.
Several institutions remain at the testing or deployment stage. Eastern Bank and Al-Arafah Islami Bank have completed both incoming and outgoing tests, awaiting live deployment.
Dutch-Bangla Bank, Standard Bank, and BRAC Bank have finished user acceptance testing but are yet to go live.
Bangladesh Bank said other banks and MFS operators would be added gradually after completing technical tests.
bKash鈥檚 head of corporate communications Shamsuddin Haider Dalim said the company was working closely with Bangladesh Bank to adopt the latest version of the interoperability framework.
He said bKash was prioritising strong authentication and layered security to ensure smooth transactions and faster dispute resolution once the service goes live.
Bangladesh Bank鈥檚 executive director and spokesperson, Arif Hossain Khan, confirmed that bKash cited inadequate system security for its delay.
He said the central bank would review Nagad鈥檚 position later.
Nagad鈥檚 head of media and communication, Muhammad Zahidul Islam, said the company had applied months ago for approval to connect to the system but had received no response.
The central bank set the maximum transaction charge at 0.85 per cent for MFSs 鈥� equivalent to Tk 8.50 per Tk 1,000 transferred, Tk 2 for payment service providers, and Tk 1.50 for banks.
Some MFS operators reportedly objected to the fixed rates, saying they were lower than expected.