Mobile banking during COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh: A novel mechanism to change and accelerate people's financial access

Most Nilufa Khatun; Sandip Mitra; Md Nazirul Islam Sarker; Most Nilufa Khatun; Sandip Mitra; Md Nazirul Islam Sarker

doi:10.3934/GF.2021013

Green Finance

2021, Volume 3, Issue 3: 253-267. doi: 10.3934/GF.2021013

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Research article

Mobile banking during COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh: A novel mechanism to change and accelerate people's financial access

1.
Department of Agricultural Finance and Cooperatives, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Agricultural University, Gazipur-1706, Bangladesh
2.
School of Political Science and Public Administration, Neijiang Normal University, Sichuan, China

Received: 03 May 2021 Accepted: 14 July 2021 Published: 19 July 2021
JEL Codes: D91, G20, G24, G29

Limited access to financial services is considered as a vital bottleneck for curbing poverty in Bangladesh. Digital technology such as mobile banking can contribute to accelerate people's access to finance but did not receive proper attention before COVID-19. This study intends to explore the use of mobile banking services to accelerate people's financial access in Bangladesh due to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic by using secondary data. Mainly documentation techniques and descriptive statistical methods are used to collect and analyze the data. The study reveals that the number of registered mobile banking customers has escalated during the COVID-19 era. Mainly government policies regarding different mobile banking transactions such as cash in, cash out, person to person (P2P) transaction, salary and utility bill payments etc., have significantly contributed to rise the people's digital financial access during this pandemic. People's changing habit towards digital transactions has also contributed to increasing their financial access. The government should provide a convenient financial access platform to create a cashless society in the country.
- mobile banking,
- COVID-19 pandemic,
- financial services,
- digital payment,
- digital financial transaction
Citation: Most Nilufa Khatun, Sandip Mitra, Md Nazirul Islam Sarker. Mobile banking during COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh: A novel mechanism to change and accelerate people's financial access[J]. Green Finance, 2021, 3(3): 253-267. doi: 10.3934/GF.2021013

Related Papers:

Abstract

Limited access to financial services is considered as a vital bottleneck for curbing poverty in Bangladesh. Digital technology such as mobile banking can contribute to accelerate people's access to finance but did not receive proper attention before COVID-19. This study intends to explore the use of mobile banking services to accelerate people's financial access in Bangladesh due to the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic by using secondary data. Mainly documentation techniques and descriptive statistical methods are used to collect and analyze the data. The study reveals that the number of registered mobile banking customers has escalated during the COVID-19 era. Mainly government policies regarding different mobile banking transactions such as cash in, cash out, person to person (P2P) transaction, salary and utility bill payments etc., have significantly contributed to rise the people's digital financial access during this pandemic. People's changing habit towards digital transactions has also contributed to increasing their financial access. The government should provide a convenient financial access platform to create a cashless society in the country.

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