‘Financial Activities & Growth of City Agent banking ’

Abstract

Since its introduction in December 2013, agent banking has grown at a constant pace. As of December 2020, 26 banks in Bangladesh have undertaken agent banking operations through 15,977 Outlets with 11,925 Agents within this total amount of operation the city bank has undertaken agent banking operation through 1411 outlets with 1386 Agents. A cumulative of 9,643,163 accounts an impressive 45.61% (or 4,398,122 accounts) of these accounts belongs to the female customers while 86.68% belongs to the rural mass, within this The city bank holds cumulative of 482991 accounts with this accounts 59248 accounts are belongs to the female customers while 101749 belongs to Male Customers, indicating that financial services through agents are reaching the underprivileged segments of the society. Up to December 2020, agent outlets have collected deposits BDT 1597725.50 lakh, disbursed loans BDT 189315.75 lakh and distributed remittances BDT 4880634.58 lakh within this total amount of deposits collection the city bank has collected BDT 86269.08, Disburse loans BDT 79778.88 and distribute remittance BDT 31338.69. During this period (June-December 2020), amidst severe business interruptions due to COVID 19 pandemic, agent banking in Bangladesh has continued to grow in all dimensions. The City bank number of agents and their outlets has grown 138.14% and 126.12% respectively while the number of accounts opened through the agents has grown 49.64% in this Half year. The share of female customers’ accounts opened through agent banking continues to keep the pace, indicating an increase of 38.83% during the reporting half year. The volume of deposit and loans through the city bank agents have also increased 56.00% while the amount of inward remittances received through the city bank agent outlets has increased by 84.23%. This half year report also indicates 30.97% growth of rural accounts opened through agents. Till December 2020 The major share of deposit has (52%) accumulated in the urban areas. Bangladesh Bank has already brought this to attention and issued guidance so that banks can work more intensively with the rural customers and help them to access more banking service. Similarly, the rural customers have received 53% of the total volume of loans. This indicates that banks, in line with the objective of agent banking, have given due priority to distribute loans in rural areas through agents.In addition, rural population has received 59% of the total inward remittances. Especially, in the current reporting half year, the volume of inward remittances has increased by 84.23% indicating that agent banking is playing a vital role to rejuvenate the rural economy. Looking at the year-to-year comparison (December 2019 to December 2020), the city bank number of agents, outlets, and accounts have grown 505.24%, 327.58%, and 90.71% respectively. The volume of deposits has increased by 82.74%, while the volume of loans by 510.81% and the amount of remittances by 237.06% over the year. Overall, the steady growth of agent banking, especially among rural and female mass, signifies an urge of financial services even in severe constraints related to the Coronavirus pandemic