Bangladesh boasts world’s fastest-growing MFS

Nagad, locally developed platform, surprised the fintech world through ground-breaking service

Forty million users in just two years! Starting from idea to scratch, currently Nagad became the fastest-growing mobile financial service in the world, helping the marginalized people to get financially included, a biggest step to the digital divide reduction for the nation.

Since its inception on March 26, 2019, by the Premier Sheikh Hasina, Nagad took the initiative to introduce modern technologies and adopted a disruptive approach, accelerating financial inclusion in Bangladesh and contributing to socio-economic development.

It pioneered the first electronic KYC (know your customer) in Bangladesh and rolled out the fastest and authentic account opening process. And late they have developed another system through which it takes just a few seconds to open an account of Nagad. The prospective user will have to dial *167# from their mobile phones and set up a personal identification number. The account is active. 

The easy onboarding process and a raft of cost-efficient services have made the lives of ordinary citizens easier than ever. All of these help the digital service provider to lift the average daily transaction volume to $50 million.

“Nagad can offer the cost-efficient services because its overall cost of doing business is much lower than other operators,” said Tanvir A Mishuk, managing director and co-founder of the platform.

“We made it possible riding on technology,” Mishuk added.

From the very beginning, it kept the cost issue in mind, so it used as many technologies as possible, a decision that fetched positive result for the carrier. Nagad has introduced many innovations that gave a solid boost to its efforts on customer acquisition and transaction volume.

“Our initial target was to upgrade citizens’ life by digitalizing the payment system. I think we have done quite well in this segment in the last two years,” said Mishuk.

Financial inclusion through formal banking channel in Bangladesh stands at about 20 percent, whereas the MFS industry has pushed it towards 50 percent. Nagad plays a significant role in this effect.

The country is now very close to including the entire population under the financial system, which is also a major pillar of the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Nagad, which means cash in the local language, also helped to digitalize many government payments, including the disbursement of social safety net, ensuring transparency and accountability.