Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Agent Banking
Submitted To
Md. Alamgir Hossen
Assistant Professor
Course Instructor
Fin-303
Submitted By
Abdullah Al Mahdi
Batch 23
ID- 1795
Date of Submission
20 September, 2016
Agent Banking
Agent Banking
Agent banking means providing limited scale banking and financial services to
the underserved population through engaged agents under a valid agency
agreement, rather
than a teller/ cashier. It is the owner of an outlet who conducts banking
transactions on
behalf of a bank. Globally these retailers are being increasingly utilized as
important
distribution channels for financial inclusion. Bangladesh Bank has also decided to
promote
this complimentary channel to reach to the poor segment of the society as well
as existing
bank customer with a range of financial services especially to geographically
dispersed
locations.
How It Works
The basic working procedure of agent banking is: Bank>> Agent>> Consumer.
The unbanked, un-served specifically rural people are going to be benefitted by
this. The consumers are directly involved agents, but will retain all the attributes
and privileges just like any other consumer who has opened account over the
counter and receives over the counter services.
Agent banking supports on condition that banking facilities to those bank
customers channel through the associated agents under a legal agency
agreement, compare to any standard means of teller/ cashier/ATM booth service.
The designated and lawfully associated agent of a government approved bank,
who is also the proprietor of an outlet, basically carries out all the banking
activities on behalf that bank. There are specific set of guidelines, rules and
regulations and agent selection criteria in order to open an agent banking outlet.
The categories of banking services may vary from country to country but there
are certain levels of services that agents are not allowed to perform. Only a
branch bank can authorize and perform those tasks. However, agents can collect
all the required information and hand them over to the bank for further official
process.
i.
ii.
The policy on agent banking stipulates that customers can receive government
assistance from social safety programmes and deposit insurance premium
through the agents. They can also transfer money from one account to another
and check account balance. Anyone can collect information about opening of
bank account from the agents and apply for loans, and credit or debit cards
through them.
The agents, however, cannot make payment on any cheque, open any account,
issue cheque books or bank cards, and transact foreign exchange. An agent has
to have the qualifications determined by the central bank and give a security
deposit of Tk. 100,000 for appointment. They will get a certain commission on
transactions. The policy says NGOs, micro-credit agencies, cooperatives, post
offices, companies, mobile-phone operators agents, union information service
centres, local government institutions and any individual capable of offering
financial services based on information technology can be appointed agents.