Trust Bank savings and loans now on the bKash app, with DPS accounts from Tk 500

Trust Bank's savings services have been added to the bKash app. In the coming days, the bank's loans, pay-later and other services will also become available in the same app in phases. Trust Bank and bKash have taken the joint initiative to make receiving banking services digitally easier for all kinds of customers.

The joint journey was announced at an event titled 'Expanding Access, Empowering Possibilities' at a hotel in the capital, in the presence of senior officials of both institutions. Major General Md Hosain Al Morshed, vice-chairman of Trust Bank and Adjutant General of the Bangladesh Army, inaugurated the joint service as chief guest.

Bangladesh Bank executive directors Md Sirajul Islam and Arif Hossain Khan attended as special guests. Also present were Trust Bank's managing director and chief executive officer Ahsan Zaman Chowdhury and bKash founder and chief executive officer Kamal Quadir.

In his speech as chief guest, Major General Md Hosain Al Morshed said, 'Technology has now changed the way financial transactions work, yet for many people it remains difficult to get financial support on easy terms when they need it, especially for small traders and people with limited incomes. Today's joint initiative of ours has been taken with that reality in mind.'

He added that Trust Bank has long provided responsible banking services, while bKash has made everyday transactions easier for countless people in the country. By combining the experience and capacity of the two institutions, he said, necessary financial services can be delivered to many more people.

Special guest Sirajul Islam said, 'bKash's progress has accelerated the country's financial inclusion, and the regulator hopes its partnership with Trust Bank will strengthen that inclusion further.' He described two leading institutions working jointly for initiatives to improve people's living standards as promising.

Central bank executive director Arif Hossain Khan said various types of lending systems exist in Bangladesh and that the 'nano loan' concept came from the idea of informal lending. Wishing success to the two institutions' initiative to meet people's urgent needs, he said essential services will reach people at the margins and will contribute to the country's inclusive development.

Trust Bank managing director Ahsan Zaman Chowdhury said, 'Trust Bank has trust, long banking experience and experience of working with small and medium entrepreneurs; bKash, meanwhile, has a nationwide digital platform, an agent network and people's trust. Building on that trust, banking services through the combination of the two institutions will now reach people at the margins.' He said agents or small traders will be able to take Trust Bank loans from the bKash app when they need them, while DPS, FDR and pay-later services will make customers' transactions easier.

bKash founder and chief executive Kamal Quadir said, 'Technology is helping us build the right partnerships. As a result, anyone can now open even a Tk 10,000 FDR.' In his view, such technology will help remove various barriers and deliver creative, compliant and suitable financial services to people at every level of society.

Under the new arrangement, customers can open Trust Bank monthly DPS accounts from the bKash app, with amounts from Tk 500 to Tk 20,000 and various tenures available. Fixed deposit (FDR) services of various tenures and amounts will be launched soon.

Trust Bank loans will also be launched for bKash agents, who will be able to take and repay the collateral-free loans instantly from their agent app. Selected customers will likewise be able to take collateral-free loans from Trust Bank through the bKash app.

A pay-later service will also be launched in the bKash app under Trust Bank's lending services, for payments and mobile recharges. With this service, customers can buy a product or service within their credit limit and repay the full amount without interest within the next seven days, or repay in easy monthly instalments. The two institutions have also pledged to work together to make it easier for expatriate Bangladeshis to send remittances.

At present, bKash's 85 million customers can receive banking services such as savings and loans from Trust Bank as well as five other banks and one financial institution directly from the app. bKash's digital savings service began in 2021 with a monthly DPS from IDLC Finance; Dhaka Bank, Mutual Trust Bank, City Bank, BRAC Bank and Eastern Bank were added in phases.

According to the two institutions, bKash is adding the services of different institutions to its own platform to make financial inclusion sustainable by using mutual cooperation and capacity in the financial sector to deliver better services to more customers; the addition of Trust Bank's services is part of that continuity.